Betrayal

Want a great way to raise tension in your story? Add a dash of betrayal. Or maybe a whole scoop. Far more damaging than what an outside enemy can do, nothing turns everything upside-down like having a character we trust stick a knife in someone's back.

Thanks to Laie Young Writers' club member Micah for giving us some hints on betrayal:

1. It's got to be quick and unexpected. If betrayal is suspected, the other characters will do something about it. Unless they're stupid, or being manipulated by the author, or both.
2. It has to be reasonable. You can't have just anybody randomly betray the other characters in order to make the story more interesting. If the reader's favorite character turns out to be a traitor and it is handled badly by you the author, all you're going to do is make the reader mad. On the other hand, if you do it right, you can make the reader love that character even more.
3. How do you do it right? Step one is motivation. The traitor has to have a reason to believe that betraying their allies will actually produce some kind of benefit. 
4. Step two is reaction. The other characters should be devastated by the betrayal. If they're not devastated, it wasn't really a betrayal, was it?

So try out some treason. As Uncle Iroh says, "It's more fun!"