Tag Archives: narrative tension

“I can allow myself to speculate on all that now, though it would not have occurred to me to do so at the time.”

Posted on April 20, 2023 by Kate Stover

When writing about something that happened years ago, should you stick to the story, or should you interject speculations about what could have happened? Should you also comment on your speculations? People who write stories about things that happened to … Continue reading →

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“Why, you may ask, should you write serious nonfiction as a story?”

Posted on January 14, 2016 by Kate Stover

The authors’ answer to this question: “[T]he first job of any book is to get itself read.” Narrative tension, they observe, “remains a highly effective tool for keeping the reader engaged with the material” (179). If that’s so, why don’t … Continue reading →

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