Quote:
Originally Posted by crich70
True. Everyone has got their own opinion of what is a good or bad book/movie/piece of music etc. Of course sometimes I imagine it is possible to overlook the particular type of tension that is in a given work. A Christmas Carol is an example where I imagine it might be easy to do. Scrooge isn't often in any prolonged direct conflict with other characters. Instead usually the conflict seems to be internal as he faces up to the decisions (good and bad) that he has made over the course of his life.
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I think this is one of the reasons why people do and don't enjoy different genres. If you're not into romance then the tension of the relationship(s) is something that may simply pass you by as unimportant. If you're not into Sci-Fi then the tension of discovering the technological consequences may leave you unmoved. And so on.
This highlights the importance of not relying on just one element of tension in your story. By having multiple lines of tension you get to play them off against each other in ways that highlights each to the reader, and that sometimes creates something quite different. (The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.)