Creating Suspense in One’s Writing

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.