Good Beginnings: Tension

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Good Beginnings: How to Use Tension to Hook Your Readers

Hi friends! I’m Allison Spooner, self-published author of The Lost Girl: A Neverland Story and The Things We Cannot Change, a story about the ghosts created by addiction. Welcome back to my series on crafting good beginnings—one of the most critical parts of any story.

If you missed my earlier post about what a good beginning needs to do, go check it out. Today, we’re narrowing in on what a good beginning needs in order to successfully capture your readers and keep them hooked.

What Does a Good Beginning Need?

There are four key ingredients that make up a strong opening:

  1. Tension
  2. Conflict
  3. Interesting characters
  4. Momentum

In this post, we’ll focus on the first of these elements—tension—and how it can grab readers from the very beginning. Tension creates curiosity, raises questions, and keeps readers flipping pages. To see this in action, let’s take a look at a fantastic example from Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games.

Using Tension: The Hunger Games Example

Here are the opening sentences from The Hunger Games:

“When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold. My fingers stretch out, seeking Prim’s warmth, but finding only the rough canvas cover of the mattress. She must have had bad dreams and climbed in with our mother. Of course she did. This is the day of the reaping.”

What’s remarkable about this opening is how much tension it creates in just a few short sentences. Let’s break it down:

1. An Unsettling Absence

  • “The other side of the bed is cold.”
    This simple sentence immediately grabs our attention. Someone is missing, and the absence creates an unsettling feeling. Who is Prim? Why isn’t she in bed?

2. Hints at Vulnerability

  • “She must have had bad dreams and climbed in with our mother.”
    This sentence tells us that Prim is likely young and scared—vulnerable in some way—which naturally makes us want to protect her. Readers are already invested in Prim before we know much else about her.

3. The Weight of the Reaping

  • “Of course she did. This is the day of the reaping.”
    Here comes the big one: the reaping. With just four words, Collins introduces a term we don’t yet understand but instinctively know is important—and sinister. What is the reaping? Why does it scare Prim so much? Is it going to put her in danger?

Tension Layered with Information

Tension works best when it’s subtle yet layered, and in these first few sentences, not only does Collins evoke tension, but she also gives us just enough information to raise even more questions:

  • Siblings and poverty: The narrator mentions a rough canvas mattress, which hints at poverty or less-than-ideal living conditions. The phrase “our mother” also implies siblings, making us wonder about their family dynamic and why they normally sleep together.

  • A hard life: In the next paragraph, we learn about their mother’s worn appearance. This detail, combined with the other clues, paints a picture of hardship even before the reaping is fully explained.

Without dumping too much information all at once, Collins balances tension with subtle context, making readers eager to learn more.

Why Tension Works So Well in Beginnings

Tension pulls readers in because it creates emotional investment right off the bat. Think of tension as an unanswered question—a tiny mystery—woven into your story’s opening scene. By hinting at danger, hardship, or uncertainty, you make readers curious about what’s coming next.

In The Hunger Games, the tension of the reaping is both specific and universal. Even though we may not understand the exact stakes yet, phrases like “the day of the reaping” carry an ominous weight. Readers intuitively know that something bad is about to happen—and they have to keep reading to find out what.

What’s Next? Conflict in Beginnings

Tension is just one piece of the puzzle. In the next part of this series, we’ll dive into conflict—another essential element of a strong beginning. Conflict isn’t just about fights or arguments; it’s about setting up opposing forces that create intrigue and carry your story forward.

We’ll explore specific examples of conflict, how it differs from tension, and how you can weave them together to craft an irresistible opening.

Stay Tuned for More Tips

If you’re curious about the rest of this series—or just tired of trying to search through old posts—good news: I’m rolling out a new tool soon to make it easier to find my tips and get your writing questions answered. Make sure you’re signed up for my newsletter to stay in the loop!

As always, feel free to drop any questions about writing good beginnings (or anything else!) in the comments, and I’ll do my best to answer them. Thanks for reading, and happy writing!

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