: Re: How do I create tension around a threat which isn't immediately, personally harmful? I'm at the end of chapter 1 of my book, where the protagonist (a cyberterrorist) commits his first terror

@BetL639

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The classic antagonist against a white hat hacker is black ice, but that is still fictional. Black ice is computer countermeasures which can literally kill the attacker despite their distance from the scene of the crime. Grey ice, identity discovering countermeasures can also be great sources of tension for the hacker.

However, to make this question and answer more useful to other readers, let's cover a few other, non-computer-ish, non-terrorist-ish options... Tension arises from a perception of risk, not from risk's reality. Your hacker doesn't need to actually be in any danger at all, as long as he believes that he (or someone he cares about) is in danger. That danger can be real or imaginary, local or distant, immediate or eventual.

Back to your specific scenario, your protagonist may be concerned that these actions will not be seen as the noble acts of rebellion that he believes they are. He may be worried about hurting his cause with this attack. If the government he is attacking has control of the media, he may have legitimate concerns, which you can built upon within his quavering mind, having him pause after every firewall falls. "Should I continue?", "Have I already gone too far?" With the right build up, his entry of the final computer command to trigger the attack will be a tension bomb.

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