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Q&A How do I add tension to a story, when the reader knows the MC survives?

To clarify: There are two parts to the book (or I might split them into separate books), one with my main protagonist, and the second is a prequel, showing the protagonist's father's story. Bot...

4 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by Ajnatorix Zersolar‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T09:37:09Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/38262
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Ajnatorix Zersolar‭ · 2019-12-08T09:37:09Z (almost 5 years ago)
To clarify:

There are two parts to the book (or I might split them into separate books), one with my main protagonist, and the second is a prequel, showing the protagonist's father's story.

Both storylines are high fantasy, with war being the major issue.

My problem is that, since the father is seen in the later part, we know he survived whatever happened before. He goes through moments when, from the character's perspective, he might not live, but the reader knows he does.

How do I make the readers feel the tension, even though they know the character lives?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-08-11T10:54:20Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 10