Tension [Rick Bass]

At its best, tension is not the leaping-out-from-behind-the-door jolt that moves a narrative forward, but a much less visible rhythm of positive and negative values and valences, at every level: story arc, scene, sentence, even word level: a shimmering electrical current of positives, negatives, and neutralities. Bring some samples of your work (remember, good writing is specific writing), and we’ll examine them for tension, then discuss. Extra credit: In your work, please be versed in the differences between lie and lay, further and farther, etc.!