Time as a Tool for Tension [Robin McLean]

All Levels | There are always at least two ticking clocks in fiction. One is the timeline of the story. The other is the clock on the reader’s patience. To get the reader to the end of the tale, the two clocks must interact successfully through a series of decisions to keep the tension taut: where to compress time for best effect, where to expand it, where to jump ahead or back. In this one-day session you will practice—looking to Joy Williams, Colson Whitehead, and Chekhov for guidance—the careful management of time to increase the tension and, therefore, power in your fiction.