What is Drama?
Before you can add drama into your novel, you have to understand what drama actually is. Drama involves at least one of the following elements: tension, emotion, excitement, or an unexpected series of events. These can take many forms, but essentially, drama is conflict. Emotional conflict, physical conflict, whatever. But your novel needs something dramatic. Without drama, you're not writing a novel, you're writing a narrative. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if you're hoping for a novel, you need to find the drama.
This drama could be a large scale war, but this is certainly not your only option. Perhaps your character is driven by some internal conflict. This too can be drama if done right. The point is to get your readers engaged and caring about the characters, and you can do this by using the drama of your story to its fullest. But be careful not to go overboard.
Adding Drama to Your Novel
Drama is great. It creates conflict and adds sizzle to your novel. But you have to find the right balance. Too much drama and your novel suddenly reads like one of those old B-movies. Too little and it's just plain boring. How do you find this balance? Well, everyone is different, but I like to take a look at my work with a critical eye.
A first draft is just that -- your first attempt at the work. It won't be perfect, but it's a place to start examining the drama in your novel. Read through what you have and try to be a reader, not a writer. Where does the drama slow down or even stop? When does the tension fade away? Find these areas an inject drama into them. Yes, I know, there are quieter parts to any novel. But I'm not talking about those. I'm talking about the parts that really start to bore you. If you're bored with your own story ... let's just say it's not a good sign.
There are a couple of ways to introduce tension and drama into your story. The first is traditional and seen in almost every novel. Simply throw more obstacles into your protagonist's path. This creates frustration, which leads to tension, which is one form of drama. If each obstacle is more difficult to overcome than the last, you have rising tension. Just don't let your readers down with your climax.
The second way to create drama takes a little more skill. It involves shifting your point of view. Don't confuse this with head-hopping. Head hopping involves jumping from one perspective to another without cause and it drives readers nutty. Shifting the point of view can be done in short stints with great effect. The easiest and least invasive way to do this is using what's sometimes called an 'Interlude'. Sometimes this is used as the title of a chapter that's written from someone else's point of view.
A great way to use this tool is to slip into the mind of the antagonist. What is the bad guy thinking? What is he plotting? What does he have planned for the protagonist? Revealing these thoughts to the reader when the protagonist is still unaware can really introduce a level of tension to your novel. But do this sparingly or you'll spoil the entire story.
Pruning Back the Tension
You're writing a novel, not a soap-opera. What's the difference? Well, in a soap-opera, everything goes wrong. Think of a sudden plunge downward without ever coming back up. The obstacles never end and the good guys never get ahead. Even small victories are not really victories as they only lead to another conflict. And all conflicts are never ending.
Novels aren't like that. Think of a roller coaster with plenty of ups and downs. There has to be some kind of balance to the whole thing. Eventually, the good guys have to get ahead, at least once in a while. If you find yourself with endless conflict that's getting a bit ridiculous, trim it back. Let the good guys experience a little victory here and there. Not big victories, but enough to keep them inspired. They need to stay motivated. Think about it for a minute. If you were in your novel and you experienced nothing but setbacks, you'd probably give up. So would your protagonist.
You should also break up the tension with other scenes. I like to use tender moments between characters. This helps build character and relieves some of the ongoing tension. A love scene or a death scene introduce a different kind of tension (if your story isn't primarily about either of these things), giving the reader a little break and bringing some realism into your story.
Picture that roller coaster again in your mind and try to mimic it with the drama in your novel. But there is one thing you should never do -- don't ever bring the bad guy back to life. It's ridiculous and you're only creating artificial tension. Bad guy dies and -- ack, he's not dead yet! It's been done and it's never done well. He's either dead (or at least defeated) or he's not. The only time this comes even close to working is when the bad guy fakes his own death, but even this is dicey. Better just stick with the realm drama if you want your readers to come back for more.
Drama is an important component in any novel so it pays to focus your attention here for a period of time. Go through your story and make sure the drama is balanced and realistic. In this manner you'll be able to craft a story that pleases readers and brings them back for more.
