Dramatic Tension
Creating and managing anticipation and emotional investment in character's fate
The five levels
Each anchor describes what separates one level from the next — not a general description of quality. This is the text the evaluator itself reads.
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Level 1 Below Standard
No tension, reader unaffected by character's fate
Example What happens doesn't seem important because no clear stakes
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Level 2 Approaching
Tension exists but not sustained
Example Tension appears then dissipates before climax
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Level 3 At Standard
Sustained tension keeping reader attentive
Example Reader wants to know what will happen
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Level 4 Above Standard
Tension creating genuine emotional investment in character's fate
Example Reader hopes for one outcome and fears the other
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Level 5 Exemplary
Tension arising from within character not only from external events
Example Internal conflict more intense than external
Where does your own work sit on these levels?
Submit one work to be read against this criterion alone: your position across the five levels, why you are not higher and why not lower, three literal quotes from your own work, and one exercise with its success check. Your first card is free.
Price: 7 SAR · Included in Pro & Artist Plus · First one free — Pricing details
Read my work by this criterionOther criteria in the same art
Ability to show emotions through actions and details rather than direct statement
The five levels →Constructing the scene like a building: setup, tension, climax, resolution
The five levels →Short sentence's ability to carry deep multi-layered meaning
The five levels →Conscious movement between times, using flashback and other techniques
The five levels →Consciously speeding and slowing text according to scene demands
The five levels →Character's convincing growth or transformation across the text
The five levels →Using the five senses to bring the scene vividly to the reader
The five levels →Absence of clichés and canned expressions, presence of authentic language
The five levels →