In our daily lives, we’re all about doing whatever we can to decrease tension. But when it comes to the lives of our fictional characters, we have to be willing to ramp up the tension … more … and more … and yes, a little bit more.

I relearned the importance of tension while watching a favorite movie a few days ago.

The movie: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The characters: The members of the Fellowship, including Frodo and his trio of Hobbit friends; Gandalf, the Gray wizard; Aragorn, heir to the throne of Gondor; Elf Legolis, Dwarf Gimli, Boromir, son of the steward of Gondor
The scene: The Mines of Moria leading to the passage of the Bridge of Khazad-dûm

What you need to know: The fellas in the Fellowship are running from hordes of Orcs – nasty bad guys. Tension? Yes.

But wait, there’s more – tension, that is.

• The Fellowship is running through the Mines of Moria – and of course, it’s no easy escape. They traverse a narrow set of high stairs, which is bad enough if you don’t care for heights.

• And then … their escape is halted by a broken part of the stairway. Of course it is. Increasing tension. Forget falling over the side of the narrow bridge. Now they have to jump across a gaping chasm.

• Legolis and Gandalf make it across. And then Orc arrows start flying. It’s one thing to have to jump across a crumbling bridge – it’s another thing altogether to do it while you’re dodging arrows and, if you’re Legolis or Aragorn, to think about trying to jump while you’re defending the Hobbits. Increasing Tension. Keep moving and protect others.

• Boromir jumps with two of the Hobbits, but causes the bridge to crumble even more. (And I confess it was only in this, my who-knows-how-many-times-I’ve-watched-this-scene viewing, that I noticed the side of the bridge falling apart after Boromir jumped. Increasing Tension. The leap for everyone else just got wider.

• When Frodo and Aragorn are the only ones remaining on the wrong side of the bridge — which yes, has crumbled more as others jumped across to safety — a falling rock hits the bridge behind them. Now Frodo and Aragorn are precariously perched on a small portion of stone weaving back and forth in midair. Increasing tension. Can’t go forward. Can’t go back.

• Oh … and while all this is going on, the Balrog, and ancient demon of fire and shadow, is advancing on them. Sorry, forgot to mention him. Increasing tension. One more very bad guy added to the mix.

The lesson about tension is a simple one: Pile it on, people. Pile it on. Don’t cut your characters a break.

One caveat: While you’re piling on the tension, make it plausible.

Some of the tension-creating circumstances were subtle, such as the edge of the bridge crumbling when characters jumped from one side to the other. And some were as blatant as a random piece of falling scenery destroyed part of the bridge. But never once while I watched that scene did I doubt what was happening. Every action and reaction – every “Oh, no! Not that!” was realistic for that fictional world.

Select a scene in your work-in-progress (WIP). How can your ramp up tension?