Most stories start out by introducing a source of tension into the lives of its characters. But those lives didn't start when the story did, and the characters' pasts are a source of tension, as well. By looking at a story as the interplay between the new (acute) tension and the the existing (chronic) tension, we can find ways to keep moving forward and even leverage these simple ideas into creating "surprising-yet-right" endings. We will examine the works of authors such as George Saunders, Caitlin Horrocks, Charles Baxter, Adam Johnson and others.
ERIC RAMPSON spent almost 20 years studying, performing, and teaching improv comedy before getting his MFA in Fiction from The MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. His short fiction has been published in Change Seven Magazine, The Matador Review, Typishly, Metonym, The Gateway Review, and Broad River Review.
