by Katherine Reay, @Katherine_Reay

We know conflict drives our stories. Conflict keeps the reader glued to the page. After all, who wants to read about two characters who agree all the time, or follow a hero with nothing to thwart his heroics, or invest in a young woman to whom life comes so easily there’s not even a hiccup in her placid world?

Yet…

Marianne and Elinor in Sense and Sensibility do agree, sometime.

In Pride and Prejudice, Darcy’s own pride thwarts his heroics – for a time.

And nothing at all seems to darken Emma’s skies in Emma.

There are no bombs, kidnappings or murders in Jane Austen and yet her works are considered some of the greatest.

Why?  Hardly anything happens.

It’s in the small stuff… And we need to pay attention. Under the surface of any and all great reads, we will find micro-tension.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

That is not a universal truth. Rather, what is true is that for every Mrs. Bennet out there with five unmarried daughters, this is an imperative. She needs young men to want wives – to want her daughters – and, with an estate entailed away, failure is not an option.

Pride and Prejudice’s micro-tension is set up in this first line. And while there are no feats of daring or international intrigues, the tension never lets up. We sense it in Darcy and Elizabeth, Charlotte and all the other ancillary characters, every time they  say one thing, but we know they feel something completely different.

Here’s another example: Remember the movie Die Hard? There’s lots of tension in that one. Bombs, bad guys, a time clock, and shattered glass everywhere…. But also remember the micro-tension that drives the story. John is coming to LA to visit his wife, to seek reconciliation. She has moved from NY to LA alone. Neither husband nor wife feels the other understands, is willing to support or even loves any longer. That is the tension simmers beneath John’s character and thus the movie.

So whether you’re writing a Jane Austen or a Die Hard, remember the small stuff. It’s the yeast that keeps the bread rising. Without it, even the most dramatic scenes will fall flat.

In Lizzy & Jane, I thought about it this way. I determined that one can look at a sibling and feel at least five emotions instantly: loyalty, love, jealousy, spite and betrayal – to name the first ones that come to mind. So when I put Lizzy and Jane in conversation, I made sure all that was simmering beneath the surface. Even when they talked about something as innocuous as the weather, I worked to keep their histories, their preconceptions, and their misconceptions close. They might both say it was a sunny day, but each carried the full load of their past into the determination.

Give it a try! Pick a scene from your work-in-progress and amp up the power by identifying a couple simmering tensions and drawing upon them. Let the reader feel the conflict, struggle, mixed emotions, and complexity within your character. Succeed here and it will translate to your entire story.

Have fun! And thank you for spending a moment with me today…

Katherine

The Austen Escape

Mary Davies finds safety in her ordered and productive life. Working as an engineer, she genuinely enjoys her job and her colleagues – particularly a certain adorable and intelligent consultant. But something is missing. When Mary’s estranged childhood friend, Isabel Dwyer offers her a two-week stay in a gorgeous manor house in England, she reluctantly agrees in hopes that the holiday will shake up her quiet life in just the right ways.
But Mary gets more than she bargained for when Isabel loses her memory and fully believes she lives in Jane Austen’s Bath. While Isabel rests and delights in the leisure of a Regency lady, attended by other costume-clad guests, Mary uncovers startling truths about their shared past, who Isabel was, who she seems to be, and the man who now stands between them.
Outings are undertaken, misunderstandings play out, and dancing ensues as this company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation, work out their lives and hearts.

Katherine Reay is the award-winning author of Dear Mr. Knightley, Lizzy& Jane and The Bronte Plot, an ALA Notable Book Award Finalist. Her latest novel, A Portrait of Emily Price, released in November 2016 and received Starred Reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and a Romantic Times TOP PICK!All Katherine’s novels are contemporary stories with a bit of classical flair. She holds a BA and MS from Northwestern University and is a wife, mother, rehabbing runner, former marketer, and avid chocolate consumer. After living all across the country and a few stops in Europe, Katherine now happily resides outside Chicago, IL.