Now, we all know how amazingly tense M/T books can be but creating that using just words can sometimes cause an issue. You can image how a scene plays out in your head but getting that down into words can sometimes be hard. What I find when I read M/T books is that the language is usually very advanced, like all writers out there have swallowed a thesaurus. Well there's the trick...

I downloaded a thesaurus app purely for the purpose of looking up words when I was writing my first M/T book as I felt like words such as 'scary' and even 'terrified' were just too bland for the intense scenes I was writing. Now I'm not saying use a ton of complicated words in a sentence cause I can assure you that will put off any reader. Its also important that you have a range of sentence structures.

Some other literary techniques that work well are metaphors and similes but that applies to most writing to be honest. I think its so important to have engaging writing in M/T because quite a lot of the time, there might not being anything going on. Its one of those genres where there is a lot that happens mentally to the characters but its not action packed, there aren't explosions round every corner. If your writing isn't exciting you won't be able to hold the reader's interest.

You know what I might as well give you an example as I'm explaining this badly.

Without thesaurus/literary techniques: I walked down the creepy alley as it was getting dark, I felt like I was being followed. Turning around I saw a dark shadow. I gasped.

With thesaurus/literary techniques: Walking down the ominous alley, I noticed that the sun had disappeared to be replaced by the ghoulish moon which illuminated my surroundings. There was an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach; my insides churned as I felt the hairs on my neck stand up. I was being followed. Turning around, I noticed the large shadow of my stalker. It was like the world moved in slow motion as I struggled to breathe. He was back.

See the second one is a) longer and b) more descriptive meaning more tension is built up!