tension building
Escalating dramatic pressure
Tension building describes the deliberate escalation of suspense, conflict, or unease.
In storytelling, tension building creates anticipation before a climax: The director is a master of tension building.
In psychology, particularly regarding abuse cycles, tension building names the phase where stress accumulates before an explosive incident.
The term works as both noun phrase and adjective: tension-building music, the tension-building phase.
- suspenseAnxious uncertainty about outcomes
- anxietyPersistent apprehensive distress
- nail biterSuspensefully close competition
- foreshadowingHinting at later events
- pacingRate of movement
stakes · Hitchcockian · pressure · escalation · white-knuckle · edge of seat · apprehension · on tenterhooks · held breath · nervousness · strain · dramatic irony · powder keg · calm before storm · dread · anticipation · unease · cliffhanger
- storytellingstorytelling, story, tale, narrative, narrator
- storytelling techniquesflashback, voiceover, subplot, flash forward, twist
- domestic abusedomestic violence, battering, batterer, spousal abuse, wife beating
- eavesdroppingoverhearing, spying, covert surveillance, overheard conversation
- theater termsplay, actors, stage play, limelight, directing
- book reviewsbook review, critique, book ratings, critical analysis, critiques
tension buildingtension release
Easing of strain
release · resolution · catharsis · denouement · climax
tension buildingrelaxation
State of being unwound
decompression · unwinding · calming · stress relief · relief
tension buildingde-escalation
Reducing conflict intensity
conflict resolution · defusing · reconciliation · peacemaking · cooling off