I labeled my scenes action vs. dialogue per my earlier post, so now I think I need to create more action and tension in my manuscript.

How can I add action when my protagonist is sitting in an office? I can’t invent a space ship or aliens attacking her. (Well, I can, but I’d be in another genre.) She accidently staples her fingers?

So now I’ve added another antagonist who is metaphorically trying to staple my protagonist. Mwuah hah hah.

I also turned to my craft books for advice.

Creating More Action and Tension in a MS Per Dwight Swain

Dwight Swain’s Advice – Add Feeling, Action, Speech

I read Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight V. Swain, recommended by Linnea Sinclair and I found what I needed to do.
1) To add tension, you need to show the character’s reaction to an event.
2) The character reaction is “feeling, action, speech.” (p. 56).

My character usually talks in reaction, which made me realize I‘ve been leaving out the feeling and the action. I definitely haven’t been using all the “glandular and muscular reactions” (at p. 72). (Am I really supposed to use glandular reactions? That feels so raw.)

a. What is feeling? Dwight Swain explains:
“Panic races through you.
Panic is feeling.
Like magic, sweat slicks your palms and soaks your armpits and trickles down your spine. . .
Actions, one and all.” ( at p. 57) (Also very glandular.)

Or his example:
“Hi Jill!” he called. “How’s it going?”
Feeling: A glow of warmth at his friendliness crept through Jill.
Action: She smiled.
Speech: “Just fine, thanks,” she said. ( at p. 58)

He’s not recommending that you always use all three components, but rather add it to your writer’s toolbox.

Tension – Internal and External Conflict

And just as I was thinking about this, this on-topic post from https://nybookeditors.com/2019/05/how-to-raise-the-stakes-in-your-novel-and-create-a-gripping-story/ popped up. They suggest adding internal conflict among several other items on the checklist. I recommend reading article and getting the checklist. My protagonist has external and internal conflict, but I haven’t always highlighted the internal conflict.

As Lisa Cron writes,

“[T]he protagonist’s internal struggle is the story’s third rail, the live wire that sparks out interest and drives the story forward.”

Story Genius, by Lisa Cron at p. 18

End In Disaster

I also re-read parts of Jack Bickham’s Scene and Structure, another craft book I also highly recommend.

“Disaster works (moves the story forward) by seeming to move the central figure further back from his goal, leaving him in worse trouble than he was before the scene started.”

Scene & Structure by Jack Bickham at p. 42.

What are your thoughts?

Do you have any advice on how to create more action and tension in a MS? How do you develop your protagonist’s internal conflict? What kind of books do you like to read?