365 days of writing prompts

Ten writing prompts to help you keep your readers on the edge.

Welcome to Day 9! Now that your plot has direction, it’s time to raise the stakes and deepen the tension. Without tension, even the most beautiful story can fall flat—because readers need to feel that something important is at risk.

Stakes give meaning to your character’s choices, and tension keeps readers turning pages. Today’s prompts will help you craft uncertainty, urgency, and emotional pull that make your story impossible to put down.

Here is an article I found that teaches you how to raise the stakes in your story.

Here is an article I found that teaches you how to create tension in your story.

1. The Risk
   What does your main character stand to lose if they fail? Make the cost clear and emotional.
2. The Clock is Ticking
   Add time pressure. Write a scene where your character must act before it’s too late.
3. The Silent Threat
   Create tension without violence. It can be achieved through a look, a secret, or a moment of stillness. Each feels like a held breath.
4. The Raised Stakes
   Something just got worse. Write a moment where a new complication raises the cost of failure.
5. The Relationship at Risk
   Show how conflict or choice puts a valued connection—friendship, love, loyalty—on the line.
6. The Unseen Danger
   Let your character sense something is wrong before they know what it is. How does fear or intuition guide them?
7. The Internal Tension
   Write about the battle between wish and doubt. How does your character’s own heart create conflict?
8. The Sacrifice
   What is your character willing to give up to achieve their goal? What won’t they give up, no matter the cost?
9. The Near Miss
   Write a scene where your character almost fails or almost succeeds. Let readers feel that thin line between victory and loss.
10. The Calm Before the Storm
    Create a quiet scene that hums with tension. The reader knows something’s coming, even if the characters don’t

Tension isn’t about constant action; it’s about emotion. It’s the ache of almost, the fear of loss, the weight of hope. Today, build that heartbeat of suspense that keeps readers invested until the very last page.

Leave a comment about which of the prompts helped you create the most tension. Share how they added suspense in your scene or story.