Yesterday I attended a class at Lighthouse Writer’s Workshop taught
by Benjamin Percy. The workshop was on creating suspense in one’s writing. As always, I like to use
this blog as a vehicle to share my notes.
Aaron Copland wrote an article about three different levels of listening to music, with each level involving more
complexity. Most people listen to music for the pure pleasure, but others progress
through their listening, analyzing in
detail the musicality of the piece. The same idea can be applied to reading. Most
people read only for pleasure—a good story. When Percy reads, he dissects and analyzes
everything from sentence structure to story form. Percy also does this when
watching movies, pealing back the layers that make the film more complicated
and intricate. By doing this, he is able to determine what makes the story or
book or movie work.
There are two arcs in every story: The arc of the story that
is told and the emotional arc. The story arc involves conflicts, building to
climax. The emotional arc explores how the story is important and why. We need
to explore both types of arcs to make a story work.
People today are impatient. Unlike Victorian novels, today’s
reader no longer wants to take the time for the background of a story to build;
therefore, the initial exposition should be very compact. The writer must move
as quickly as possible to an incident that disrupts the story, causing a
conflict—perhaps even in the first page or two.
Every story has a character that goes through a
transformation. The character may change his looks, thoughts, direction,
character traits, etc.
Throughout one’s story, the writer needs to create numerous “set
pieces” or crescendos that will be memorable long after the book is finished. Percy
had us quickly and privately list incidents in our own lives that were
memorable. Instantly, I could see that this was a valuable tool. After the
exercise, one of the class members shared an incident that stood out in her
life—“When my mother was taken away in a strait-jacket.” Writing about that
would definitely be a scene that would be remembered long after a book was
finished. Percy challenged us to incorporate our personal incidents into our
writing and to emotionally “mine” the reasons why our “set pieces” were
included in the story. Is there a truth or a metaphor that can be used? The
crescendos of one’s story deserve the most time in the writing process.
During a strong set point in a movie (think about the shower
scene in Psycho), the camera quickly
and continually switches perspectives—a shot from outside the shower, from
inside the shower, from a high angle. You might see the scene not only from
different angles but also from the perspectives of different characters. The
writer needs to do the same when creating a story.
The set point should be action only. The emotional part
should be provided either before or after the incident. Tell a story, have some
thoughts about it. Tell a story, have some thoughts about it.
Create a story map well in advance of the actual writing.
Keep the climax in mind when thinking about the map. While it is important to
know where you’re going to end your story, put the emphasis on the climax.
To reach a climax, create a series of failures until you
reach the biggest failure of all. Think about a moment when you really wanted
something. What did that thing represent? Why did it matter? What is the worst-case
scenario that could happen related to this? Percy used Raiders of the Lost Ark as an example. Indiana Jones wanted most to
find and retrieve the Ark. Early in the movie, we discover that Indy is most
afraid of snakes. In his attempt to find the Ark, he goes through a series of
failures until he reaches the climax, or greatest failure of all. This is when Indy
finds the Ark, but is confronted by the Nazis and thrown into the Well of Souls,
which is filled with snakes.
All does not need to end well in one’s book. Having multiple
characters in a story, some characters may experience happy, resolved endings
and some might have unhappy or unresolved endings. All do not need to be the
same.
Have conflicting forces. Good character vs. bad. Good
weather vs. severe. Serious virus vs. health. At first tease people with
danger, then slowly ratchet it up. Introduce the danger on an early page, then
bring it up again at several different points throughout the book, each time
making it more tantalizing. This danger could even be represented by a person
or situation that is “off stage.” Slowly build the expectations of the reader.
This may end in disappointment because the suspense does not meet the reader’s
expectations, but that is okay. It could also leave the reader hanging, never
revealing the significance of the incident(s).
What does your character want? He must desire something in
every scene. Think of this on a micro basis. It’s like running a marathon. The
runner can’t focus on the finish line as the goal as that would be
overwhelming; instead, he must break the course down into small pieces. First run
to the fire hydrant. Next focus on running to the street sign. As a writer, can
you break the desires of your character into small pieces?
Have characters moving while expressing what they want. No conversations
on park benches or discussions at the dinner table. Instead, have them walking or doing chores. Any
kind of action will do. At the same time, incorporate metaphor. Example: Buying
things for someone may just look like the purchase of items, but it could
really be an expression of love?
Create triangulation. Three tensions going on at once.
What are the obstacles in a story that make you keep
reading? One person can have numerous problems. A problem roars into view, then
the author cuts away to something else. The problem appears again pages later
and then again many pages after that. This creates suspense. Each chapter should end with reader wanting to
know what happens next, but finding that the following chapter starts with
something completely different.
The Ticking Clock—A big problem introduced. (Think about the
ticking heart in The Telltale Heart.)
This problem of this ticking continues throughout the story. The issue may or
may not be resolved at the end. Someone
or something is transformed during the process.
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