 Drama: July 17, 2013 Issue [#5786] |
  Drama
This week: The Suspense is Killing Me! Edited by: zwisis
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| It’s two o’clock in the morning. Your bedside light/Kindle screen is glowing. Your heart is beating, your fingertips moist. You know the hero is walking into a trap, and you desperately want to warn him... but you can’t. The writer has you the reader at his mercy. There’s nothing you can do, except turn the page... |
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If you’ve ever felt this way when reading a book then the writer has done an excellent job at creating suspense. If this feeling continues all the way through the story then the author has managed to maintain suspense for the entire book. Anyone who’s ever tried to write a suspense thriller knows this is not easy.
I recently read that “suspense writing is all about creating a pressure cooker with no relief valve”. As a writer you have to maintain the heat using multiple burners. Suspense is not an easy element to master, but once you’ve done so your readers will be hooked.
Suspense and mystery genres are related, but they can be described as distant relations. Both genres deal with crisis events designed to catch the reader’s attention and maintain it throughout the story. The main difference is perspective, and this makes the writing approach very different.
Take the scenario of the assassination of a world leader. In a mystery the death of the leader is described in chapter one, with the rest of the story describing how the killer is caught. In a suspense story the plot is revealed in chapter one, where the agents charged with protecting the targeted leader are alerted to the assassination plot. Perhaps they intercept an email or telephone conversation, or one of the weapons is found or a member of the assassination team is captured... the story unfolds with changes to the security plans for protecting the leader while trying to find the assassin. The climax of the story is the way the assassination plot is thwarted.
Mystery unfolds after the main event while suspense builds drama before the main event.
All good suspense stories describe what’s at stake at the beginning of the story. One could argue this is because the reader knows the WHO, WHAT and WHEN at the beginning of the story, so some of the dramatic impact is lost. This is where the challenge of suspense writing becomes a reality. The HOW and the WHY help the suspense writer can create tension, using imaginative and resourceful story developments and strong characters.
Another difference between mystery and suspense writing is the freedom the suspense genre gives its writers. Suspense writers can use the point of view of several characters, including the bad guy. His character, motivation and background can be used, not only to give the reader insight into his character but also as part of the story. . Because the writer is also developing his hero’s character for the story this means both the protagonist and the antagonist are able to interact and spar with each other on any level the writer chooses. They can meet without realising it, they can engage in a “cat and mouse” style relationship or one of them can be aware of the other’s role in the story. Mystery writers can write stories using the point of view of different characters, but never that of the antagonist. His identity must always remain hidden in order to maintain the mystery.
Alfred Hitchcock claimed: “mystery is an intellectual thing, while suspense is emotional.” He was correct. While both genres deal with stakes, suspense deals with a character’s emotional reaction to a situation dealing with a specific stake. Decide what emotional reaction your character has to a specific situation. Why is he afraid? What has scared him? What has he got to lose if everything goes wrong? By allowing your reader to emotionally connect with your character - by feeling he would experience the same feelings in the same situation - your readers will care about the story and its outcome. When it comes to writing suspense, emotion is a powerful tool for any writer.
Use the senses to build suspense. Letting your readers experience what your character can see, smell, feel, hear or taste at a particular time can be a page turner. Think about peeping through a keyhole, unable to see the whole room behind the door, straining to hear something that offers a clue... suddenly the door vibrates as a key is turned in the lock!
Remember – when building suspense decide what is the emotional heart of the story, and keep your reader involved in the event unfolding around those emotions. A great introductory chapter will hook your reader. A strong final chapter will help them remember your story and recommend it to their friends.
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I tried stretching my legs and arms, but they too were met with resistance. I was trapped in a square box with no light. I voiced my terror in the shrieking tone only seven-year-old girls can accomplish.
Four brave firemen stepped into the hellish inferno this family called "home" with firm determination to rescue two little boys, aged four and six.
"Wait here," he ordered and walked to one group. One of the men stepped away and pointed at me. All the others stopped talking and turned to look at me. I got real nervous.
In his prison, for almost a week, his eyes remained wide open as they were now accustomed to the pitch blackness that had surrounded him all this time. They had thrown him in here – a small space with barely enough leg room, a narrow slit in the doorway for air and not much else - as a prelude to his punishment for something he hadn’t really done.
The footsteps passed my hiding place. I heard a key engage and a door open across the courtyard. I exhaled when the sentry closed and locked the door, my heart pounding in delicious excitation.
"I just had the worst nightmare." My voice quivers as I shake with the remembrance.
Then, in the kitchen, I saw the open window as the pungent odor seeped into the house, once again. And as I approached it was clear to me that the smell was coming in through the opening.
Wes nodded. He barely glanced at the kid. He paused. He hadn't seen that office boy in over a year, not since. . . . Naw. Couldn't be. They all looked alike: white shirts, thin ties, loud trousers, acne; they come and they go.
He kissed her on the forehead and turned out the light. Ten minutes later he re-entered the room and found her dead. |
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Marci Missing Everyone 
The list of things to research for historical fiction is priceless! I'm working on my first piece which is a novella. I was using "Ms." and found out later that it was not used until the 1960's. I had to go back and change it "Miss". I think I shared that before, but it has really stuck with me. Thanks again!
dwarf2012
I still hesitate to write a historical novel because I am afraid someone who knows more about the time period will complain I got my facts wrong..
Thanks for another good newsletter!
An apple a day.... 
Good grief, fifty years? I've been writing historical fiction and didn't know it...lol.
Quick-Quill 
I love to do research, that's as much fun as the writing part. When I started this story for Short Shots I found the original draft for FDR's speech. I saw there were words corrected. I just made my character make that correction. I thought this was a great Historical fiction.
BIG BAD WOLF is Howling 
When I wrote my Monster Cowboys story, I put down that the Heroes were helped by a band of Sioux warriors; which would have been fine if my story had been set in the Dakotas, but I set it in the New Mexico/Arizona area. I only learned my mistake after Oldwarrior   , who is of Sioux blood, told me that they'd never been that far south.  Thankfully, I was able to say that they'd been a branch that had been forced to move a good distance. Of course, I know I made other typical errors of Western stories, like putting in guns from the "future", ie 1890's guns in an 1870's setting.
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