Misunderstanding - Emma. Both book and film. specifically (spoilers) where Mr Elton is thought to love one when he loves another and when Emma thinks Harriet loves Mr Churchill. Emma is misunderstood! Ticking Bomb - I reckon any of the Hunger Games. But also, any war film!
Yes! Fantastic examples. The Emma one is so good, because that tension devise is SO of the time. And as far as ticking bomb, have you seen any Christopher Nolan film? He uses the ticking sound all the time, and it's SO effective.
I believe I am most interested in the narrowing of options and delay or withholding.
Narrowing of options: In Stephanie Garber’s Once Upon a Broken Heart series, there was a moment in book 2 when Evangeline met with her enemy, Apollo, for help, as everything kept failing and she was desperate.
Delay or withholding: This reminds me of Lord of the Flies when all of the boys kept getting signs and even hallucinations of their rescue, believing that someone was coming, until they lose their minds.
Both are great examples! That 'narrowing of options' example really shows how they get desperate as the story comes to its climax. And, oof, Lord of the Flies. Having the delay cause madness is such an interesting choice, and not one that I had on my mind at all. I love that so much. Will you use it that way at all? Even subtly? Because it's so true: withholding/not knowing something can really drive us crazy or work up our anxiety.
Dramatic irony is number one. The first thing that comes to mind is the movie Stranger than Fiction. It focuses on the 'little did he know' phrase. It doesn't fully fit the example as the premise of the film is him hearing someone narrate it.
Ticking time bomb is number 2. The example I can think of is They Both Die at the End. We both know it's the character's death day, but we have no idea when.
My favourites here are probably ticking bomb and narrowing options.
Reading this, I just keep thinking of an episode of Agents Of Shield (s7e9). Essentially the heroes get stuck in a time loop that resets every few minutes and takes them a few seconds closer to death everytime, the twist - only one particular character remembers the previous loops except if they die during one (then they forget it all and have to work everything out again from scratch). It pretty much covers ticking clock and in some ways ticking bomb (as they're never quite sure how long they've got after each reset) as well as narrowing options.
Misunderstanding just makes me think of my least favourite episode of Merlin, where some witches state that Arthur's doom will be avoided if he accepts magic and then Merlin somehow interprets this as the exact opposite! It always makes me irrationally annoyed, to the point where I have actually skipped that episode in the past...
Don't the misunderstandings make you feel so uncomfortable? I get frustrated with them...but I guess that means that I'm really engaged. As far as the ticking clock/bomb, that's a fab example of how they're used together, which is quite common. Now, you'll never be able to unsee this!
This is really interesting! I like pressure on the flaw and cost escalation. I read a book called Honour recently by Elif Shafak and I think she did the cost escalation quite well with her male protagonist. You see him fall deeper and deeper into anger until he does something awful. For pressure on the flaw, I like we need to talk about Kevin, the focus on the mother and her feelings throughout is fantastic. The pressure on her and Kevin’s attachment wound and how it plays out and leads to situations
I love that you're really into those emotional tension devices. And it makes sense with your story! I've been meaning to watch We Need to Talk about Kevin. And Honour is being added to my list....Thanks!
The two devices that appeal to me are the ticking clock and the pressure on the flaw.
My examples are (I apologise for sticking to my chosen genre):
Dramatic Irony: Scream - they continually discuss the rules of slasher films whilst they are being picked off one by one.
The narrowing of options: Since it's my favourite, Alien: They devise plan after plan to capture it once it has shown itself and each one fails until there is only one crew member left.
Scream is an incredible example! That was the first film to do that 'meta' thing where it discusses its genre within the actual film, and it's just brilliant. But I wonder if that's more of a ticking bomb, because we know that they're going one by one, but we don't know when the next one is. Although...it's a ticking clock for the character because they can see that their time is literally running out.
‘The ticking clock’ and the ‘narrowing of options’ are the two tension devices I will select for my novel, Mechs of Mars. They seem most appropriate for this one, but I am working on a much more complicated novel set at the end of World War Two told from the German’s perspective, and it seems like all of the tension devices could fit in there, just different ones for different characters as their plots weave together, and they all end up at the same point in time and space for the adventure’s climax – a very different book, but then I hadn’t considered ‘building’ it this way (before now).
Those are great options for this book and your WWII book. And I keep thinking about Nolan's film, Dunkirk, which has that ticking sound in the background to make us feel the tension of the time running out. And of course, any story that takes place in a hostile environment (like Mars) is well suited for a ticking clock if you think about life support equipment/running out of oxygen, etc.
Actually, the WWII novel is set during Operation Hannibal - the German's equivalent of Dunkirk, when they moved over a million civilians and soldiers by sea out of the way of the rampaging Red Army!
It was getting such a big story and such a big set of events, I got a little lost with it, hence why I am on this challenge, trying to restart small and work my way up to it again.
It’s so fun to think about these! My favorites are probably misunderstanding - I love knowing things that characters don’t as a reader haha - but I also love when it’s not something that I’ve learned blatantly.
Then I also like the tension of withholding - as a reader writing/thinking/hoping for the good thing to happen feels really strong in me personally - maybe because I’m generally very optimistic in real life.
I would also say I like the time bomb too - I like not knowing WHEN things are going to go down - but knowing that they will!
I can tell that you're REALLY comfortable with feeling uncomfortable! Because each of those devices makes me SO uncomfortable...especially the misunderstanding.
I think ‘the ticking bomb’ and ‘delay or withholding’ are the prime ones for me…but I can see others which might be used too.
Ticking bomb: in 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez we all know that Colonel Aureliano Buendia will face the firing squad – it’s just a question of when and what will happen then
Delay or withholding: in Fata Morgana by William Kotzwinkle information and clues as to the identity of Inspector Picard’s arch-villain are constantly revealed, then withdrawn, or turn out to be something else until the final reveal at the end.
Fantastic examples. And what an incredible book 100 Years of Solitude is. I think that magical realism might just be my favourite genre. I'm interested to see how you incorporate the ticking bomb and the withholding into your story!
My favourite genre too and Marquez is a magician! I wish I could understand Spanish and read him in his native tongue. 100 Years is my No 1 book of all time
I think a lot about translated texts actually! There's so much artistry that goes in to a faithful translation, especially when many languages lack words that other languages might have. As English readers, we probably lose SO much from Spanish, French, Greek, Arabic, etc translations.
I like the narrowing options and dramatic irony. I pick one book and one film. The book is Maurice by E. M. Forster. It’s about the protagonist Maurice’s realisation of his sexuality and decision to live as a gay man. The film is The Holdovers. The history teachers does not change his ways for long, and finally he chooses to his own way and leaves his old circumstances.
Since I have two protagonists, am I allowed three tension devices? Definitely thinking that "pressure on the flaw" and "cost escalation" will work for me, but a little delay is also tempting... As for examples of pressure on the flaw - Bathsheba's impulsivity and vanity in "Far from the Madding Crowd" makes her send the valentine to Boldwood, think Gabriel to stolid, and fall for the charms of Sergeant Troy. And in Angela Carter's "Bloody Chamber", the bride's curiosity becomes a mortal danger once she is left alone in the castle.
You're definitely allowed more than 2...especially as you get writing, because you might end up using a combo of several. I've not read either of your examples, so I'm adding them to my list!
There's a late-60s movie of "Far from the Madding Crowd" starring Julie Christie and Terrence Stamp that's still watchable. And "The Bloody Chamber" is the title story in a collection of retold fairy tales, so not too much of a commitment to read!
Misunderstanding - Emma. Both book and film. specifically (spoilers) where Mr Elton is thought to love one when he loves another and when Emma thinks Harriet loves Mr Churchill. Emma is misunderstood! Ticking Bomb - I reckon any of the Hunger Games. But also, any war film!
Yes! Fantastic examples. The Emma one is so good, because that tension devise is SO of the time. And as far as ticking bomb, have you seen any Christopher Nolan film? He uses the ticking sound all the time, and it's SO effective.
Delay or withholding and pressure on flaw. I am drawn to these two. I am still thinking about the reflection task 🤔
These are really good picks for your story. Your instinct is totally right here.
I believe I am most interested in the narrowing of options and delay or withholding.
Narrowing of options: In Stephanie Garber’s Once Upon a Broken Heart series, there was a moment in book 2 when Evangeline met with her enemy, Apollo, for help, as everything kept failing and she was desperate.
Delay or withholding: This reminds me of Lord of the Flies when all of the boys kept getting signs and even hallucinations of their rescue, believing that someone was coming, until they lose their minds.
Both are great examples! That 'narrowing of options' example really shows how they get desperate as the story comes to its climax. And, oof, Lord of the Flies. Having the delay cause madness is such an interesting choice, and not one that I had on my mind at all. I love that so much. Will you use it that way at all? Even subtly? Because it's so true: withholding/not knowing something can really drive us crazy or work up our anxiety.
Dramatic irony is number one. The first thing that comes to mind is the movie Stranger than Fiction. It focuses on the 'little did he know' phrase. It doesn't fully fit the example as the premise of the film is him hearing someone narrate it.
The plotting of that film is SO good! I was just thinking about it the other day.
Ticking time bomb is number 2. The example I can think of is They Both Die at the End. We both know it's the character's death day, but we have no idea when.
I don't know this one...but yeah, that would truly create some tension!
My favourites here are probably ticking bomb and narrowing options.
Reading this, I just keep thinking of an episode of Agents Of Shield (s7e9). Essentially the heroes get stuck in a time loop that resets every few minutes and takes them a few seconds closer to death everytime, the twist - only one particular character remembers the previous loops except if they die during one (then they forget it all and have to work everything out again from scratch). It pretty much covers ticking clock and in some ways ticking bomb (as they're never quite sure how long they've got after each reset) as well as narrowing options.
Misunderstanding just makes me think of my least favourite episode of Merlin, where some witches state that Arthur's doom will be avoided if he accepts magic and then Merlin somehow interprets this as the exact opposite! It always makes me irrationally annoyed, to the point where I have actually skipped that episode in the past...
Don't the misunderstandings make you feel so uncomfortable? I get frustrated with them...but I guess that means that I'm really engaged. As far as the ticking clock/bomb, that's a fab example of how they're used together, which is quite common. Now, you'll never be able to unsee this!
This is really interesting! I like pressure on the flaw and cost escalation. I read a book called Honour recently by Elif Shafak and I think she did the cost escalation quite well with her male protagonist. You see him fall deeper and deeper into anger until he does something awful. For pressure on the flaw, I like we need to talk about Kevin, the focus on the mother and her feelings throughout is fantastic. The pressure on her and Kevin’s attachment wound and how it plays out and leads to situations
I love that you're really into those emotional tension devices. And it makes sense with your story! I've been meaning to watch We Need to Talk about Kevin. And Honour is being added to my list....Thanks!
The two devices that appeal to me are the ticking clock and the pressure on the flaw.
My examples are (I apologise for sticking to my chosen genre):
Dramatic Irony: Scream - they continually discuss the rules of slasher films whilst they are being picked off one by one.
The narrowing of options: Since it's my favourite, Alien: They devise plan after plan to capture it once it has shown itself and each one fails until there is only one crew member left.
Scream is an incredible example! That was the first film to do that 'meta' thing where it discusses its genre within the actual film, and it's just brilliant. But I wonder if that's more of a ticking bomb, because we know that they're going one by one, but we don't know when the next one is. Although...it's a ticking clock for the character because they can see that their time is literally running out.
‘The ticking clock’ and the ‘narrowing of options’ are the two tension devices I will select for my novel, Mechs of Mars. They seem most appropriate for this one, but I am working on a much more complicated novel set at the end of World War Two told from the German’s perspective, and it seems like all of the tension devices could fit in there, just different ones for different characters as their plots weave together, and they all end up at the same point in time and space for the adventure’s climax – a very different book, but then I hadn’t considered ‘building’ it this way (before now).
Those are great options for this book and your WWII book. And I keep thinking about Nolan's film, Dunkirk, which has that ticking sound in the background to make us feel the tension of the time running out. And of course, any story that takes place in a hostile environment (like Mars) is well suited for a ticking clock if you think about life support equipment/running out of oxygen, etc.
Actually, the WWII novel is set during Operation Hannibal - the German's equivalent of Dunkirk, when they moved over a million civilians and soldiers by sea out of the way of the rampaging Red Army!
I know nothing about this and so will need to read your book ASAP.
It was getting such a big story and such a big set of events, I got a little lost with it, hence why I am on this challenge, trying to restart small and work my way up to it again.
That's SO easy to do...especially when it's historical like that. We can discuss some strategies for tampering the overwhelm later in the challenge.
It’s so fun to think about these! My favorites are probably misunderstanding - I love knowing things that characters don’t as a reader haha - but I also love when it’s not something that I’ve learned blatantly.
Then I also like the tension of withholding - as a reader writing/thinking/hoping for the good thing to happen feels really strong in me personally - maybe because I’m generally very optimistic in real life.
I would also say I like the time bomb too - I like not knowing WHEN things are going to go down - but knowing that they will!
I can tell that you're REALLY comfortable with feeling uncomfortable! Because each of those devices makes me SO uncomfortable...especially the misunderstanding.
Just a question too...I've not seen a chat thread set up since Day 12...am I missing something?
I've replied to your email about this! The days have gotten away from me...but we're back on track now :)
I don't think the new threads are prompting email notifications anymore, but if you go on to the chat there should be more recent ones there.
Thanks Stephie. That’s the problem…the last thread in my chat is Day 12
I think ‘the ticking bomb’ and ‘delay or withholding’ are the prime ones for me…but I can see others which might be used too.
Ticking bomb: in 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez we all know that Colonel Aureliano Buendia will face the firing squad – it’s just a question of when and what will happen then
Delay or withholding: in Fata Morgana by William Kotzwinkle information and clues as to the identity of Inspector Picard’s arch-villain are constantly revealed, then withdrawn, or turn out to be something else until the final reveal at the end.
Fantastic examples. And what an incredible book 100 Years of Solitude is. I think that magical realism might just be my favourite genre. I'm interested to see how you incorporate the ticking bomb and the withholding into your story!
My favourite genre too and Marquez is a magician! I wish I could understand Spanish and read him in his native tongue. 100 Years is my No 1 book of all time
I think a lot about translated texts actually! There's so much artistry that goes in to a faithful translation, especially when many languages lack words that other languages might have. As English readers, we probably lose SO much from Spanish, French, Greek, Arabic, etc translations.
I like the narrowing options and dramatic irony. I pick one book and one film. The book is Maurice by E. M. Forster. It’s about the protagonist Maurice’s realisation of his sexuality and decision to live as a gay man. The film is The Holdovers. The history teachers does not change his ways for long, and finally he chooses to his own way and leaves his old circumstances.
The Holdovers is SO good! It's such a great example of a truly emotional arc and subtle plot/actions that go along with it.
Since I have two protagonists, am I allowed three tension devices? Definitely thinking that "pressure on the flaw" and "cost escalation" will work for me, but a little delay is also tempting... As for examples of pressure on the flaw - Bathsheba's impulsivity and vanity in "Far from the Madding Crowd" makes her send the valentine to Boldwood, think Gabriel to stolid, and fall for the charms of Sergeant Troy. And in Angela Carter's "Bloody Chamber", the bride's curiosity becomes a mortal danger once she is left alone in the castle.
You're definitely allowed more than 2...especially as you get writing, because you might end up using a combo of several. I've not read either of your examples, so I'm adding them to my list!
There's a late-60s movie of "Far from the Madding Crowd" starring Julie Christie and Terrence Stamp that's still watchable. And "The Bloody Chamber" is the title story in a collection of retold fairy tales, so not too much of a commitment to read!
Pressure on the flaw and misunderstanding will be my two.
I'll need to spend more time thinking about the second part of the task though 😂
This is your excuse to spend the day reading or watching films!