Each of these has its own particular kind of resolution. To decide what kind of story you are going to write, you can pick out which tension source you want to have, or you can pick out what kind of resolution you want to have. But choosing either dictates the choice of the other. It s not just an accident that Anne Tyler almost never resolves a story with a shoot-out, while Ian Fleming almost never resolved a story otherwise. Ian Fleming s novels have very little character tension, and the readers of such books are not going to be satisfied with James Bond s personal growth as mechanism for resolving the tension, especially not when civilization hangs in the balance.
Readers are incredibly astute at sensing the source of tension in a story.
They know immediately what kind of story they are reading, and they may not be able to predict the resolution, but they know instinctively when the resolution fits the novel s particular kind of tension. This refers to narrative point of view. Each has advantages and disadvantages in terms of economy and transparency. Third-person omniscient, for example, is most economical, because it doesn t require you to create additional story in order to get your point of view over to where the action is. It is, however, much less transparent than, say, third-person limited because, other things being equal, it feels more artificial.