CREATING DRAMATIC TENSION IN NONFICTION PICTURE BOOKS

By Gabi Snyder

 

Dramatic tension is all about keeping your reader hooked. Simply put, dramatic tension is the feeling of suspense that keeps a reader reading. There are several strategies for creating dramatic tension in your nonfiction story. Here are a few.

Questions

When a story poses intriguing questions, you naturally keep reading to learn the answers.

For example, in HONEYBEE: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera (illustrated by Eric Rohmann), author Candace Fleming uses a question refrain to create tension. A few pages in, we read, “Crawling to a cell packed with sticky, rich pollen, Apis eats…” The spread ends with the question, “Strong enough for flying?” We want to know when the honeybee will fly! We turn the page and read, “Not yet….” The next several spreads each end with some variation of the “flying?” question, and each of the following pages begin with “Not yet.” Fleming waits to answer the question, and our anticipation builds, making the gorgeous double gate page in which the honeybee does fly all the more awe-inspiring.

In LUNA & ME, by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw, we’re hooked immediately with the opening lines, “Have you ever climbed a tree? And stayed there ALL night? Once there was a girl who LIVED in a tree—for over TWO years!” We want to learn more about this girl who lived in a tree. Why did she live in a tree? And how? We read on to learn the answers.

Page Turns/Refrains

In picture books, page turns are often used to create suspense and keep the reader engaged. The page might end with a question (like in HONEYBEE, discussed above) or ellipses (…) that make us turn the page to read the conclusion of a gripping sentence.

In the beautiful HENNA IS…(written by Marzieh Abbas and illustrated by Anu Chouhan), a refrain, just before each page turn, repeats throughout the book. After we read about one element of henna, like how “Henna is nature/ Seeds sprouted into shrubs/ leaves kissed by tropical rain…,” the spread ends with “But henna is so much more…”. We turn the page to learn more about the compelling henna!

Mystery

Like a good whodunit, a captivating mystery, puzzle, or riddle is inherently suspenseful.

The unique picture book WHAT MAKES US HUMAN (written by Victor D.O. Santos and illustrated by Anna Forlati) is written in the form of an extended riddle. The story begins with the words, “I have been around for a very long time. Longer than toys, dogs, or anyone you know.” With each spread, the riddle text and art provide more clues. We keep reading to learn what it is that makes us human!

Another example that introduces a kind of mystery is NOTHING – John Cage and 4’33” (written by Nicholas Day and illustrated by Chris Raschka). The title itself introduces suspense. How is this book about “nothing”!? The book opens with, “A pianist walks into a barn.” It sounds like the set-up for a joke! When the pianist sits down to play a new composition by someone named John Cage, he does… “nothing.” When, we wonder, will this nothing turn into “something”? And when it doesn’t, we wonder why, oh why did John Cage write a composition of “nothing.” We keep reading to find out!

Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing increases dramatic tension by piquing the reader’s curiosity or sense of anticipation.

In ME…JANE, by Patrick McDonnell’s, the story opens with the line, “Jane had a stuffed chimpanzee named Jubilee.” Even readers unfamiliar with Jane Goodall may suspect that detail will be central to the story. Later we read about young Jane, up in a tree. “With the wind in her hair, she read and reread the books about Tarzan of the Apes, in which another girl, also named Jane, lived in the jungles of Africa.” Even the book’s title, ME…JANE, which cleverly reframes a famous line from Tarzan with the focus now on Jane, provides a kind of foreshadowing.

In THE FIRE OF STARS: The Life and Brilliance of the Woman Who Discovered What Stars Are Made Of (written by Kirsten W. Larson and illustrated by Katherine Roy), the story opens with parallel perspectives.  One-quarter of the page is set in space: “Wrapped in a blanket of sparkling space, an unformed star waits for its bright future to begin.” The other three-quarters of the page show us young Cecilia Payne, who begs to put her bare feet in the snow and learns it’s not soft and warm like she expected. This parallel perspective foreshadows a convergence. We keep reading to find out what this curious young girl has to do with an unformed star.

Your Turn

Analyze your favorite nonfiction picture books. How does the author create dramatic tension?

Now look at your nonfiction manuscript. Can you add more dramatic tension by incorporating some of these techniques? Happy revising!

 

About the Author:

Gabi Snyder is the author of several picture books. Her debut, TWO DOGS ON A TRIKE, illustrated by Robin Rosenthal, was a Kirkus Best Picture Books of 2020 selection. Her second picture book, LISTEN, illustrated by Stephanie Graegin, was a 2022 Oregon Book Award finalist. And her third title COUNT ON US!, illustrated by Sarah Walsh, was the winner of the 2022 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award in the children’s category. Her most recent books include TODAY, illustrated by Stephanie Graegin, and LOOK, illustrated by Samantha Cotterill. Gabi lives in Oregon with her family. Learn more at gabisnyder.com.