Building Tension

On the Romance Divas‘ forum, one of the gals, Jasmine Rowe, has been sharing some of what she calls on her blog, Jasmine’s Grotto, “Opinions, Advice and Writing Wisdom Pearls”. I love her post on Conflict, How To Get Some – The Gap. Definitely a pearl of wisdom.

The idea is to take expectations and how we readjust when there’s a gap between them and the reality that so often intrudes. I thought it might be a useful exercise to come up with some of the expectations and intruding conflicts that some of the couple’s on the list from yesterday might have. None of these are polished. They done pretty rough this morning.

The Food Critic and the Chef
Initial Goal: The critic wants to review a restaurant and have a nice meal.

She goes to the place where she made reservations (gap) her name’s not on the list
She can wait for a table (gap readjust) The wait will be 2 hours, fully booked tonight
She has to find a new place to eat (gap readjust) All her usual haunts are full too
She finally finds a small hole-in-the-wall joint (no gap) She’s seated immediately
Menu looks great; she settles in to enjoy her meal (gap readjust) Food gets spilled on her
She’ll just send the bill for the cleaners (gap readjust) She’s taken to the back to clean up and meets the handsome chef
She expects to stay professional (gap readjust) He charms her out of writing a bad review
She expects to never hear from him again (gap readjust) He calls her up for a date

The Car-jacking Victim and the Undercover Agent

Initial Goal: Theheroine wants to get some cash from the ATM.

She goes to ATM to get cash (gap) a guy pulls a gun on her and orders her to slide over
She tries to call 911 on her cell (gap readjust) No signal.
She tries to signal people on the highway (gap readjust) They ignore her and he exits onto a secluded road
She asks for a bathroom break, thinking of escape (gap readjust) He walks with her
She tries to run anyway (gap readjust) he tackles her and holds the gun to her head
She believes he’s going to kill her (gap) he kisses her

Something to start with in each case. Feel free to offer any suggestions for these or any others from the list or make up your own in the comments section!