I am bad at stifling yawns.

So when my friend went on and on about his trip to Europe, I needed every bit of muscle strength in my jaw to prevent my mouth from opening.

The culprit?

The story flowed in one direction.

  • We did this.
  • And then this happened.
  • And then we went to this place.

A lot of us do that in our writing.

We reveal facts, one after another.

Fact 1.
Fact 2.
Fact 3.

As if chronology makes the story interesting. It doesn’t.

Tension makes the story interesting.

The audience doesn’t want to consume facts one after the other. They are looking for a journey.

Mastering the art of tension is critical to our writing.

Bad writing:​
We went to the café and had an Americano. Then we hung out at the Eiffel Tower, and then we went to the airport.

Good writing:​
We were at the airport, taking our sweet time to prepare for our flight. An announcement made us realize that we had misread the timing. The flight was about to leave in 30 minutes, and we were still in Security.

Ah, the drama. Now, this gets the reader’s attention.

Writing that goes in only one way is boring. Creating tension and drama holds the reader’s attention and is a sure-shot way of preventing yawns.