Keep Them in Suspense

Last week we discussed the importance of a scene list. While you are making that list you have to remember to set things up to create suspense. All readers love drama, as long as it’s not in their own lives. The key to suspense in a short story is to set up a dramatic question.In a horror story it could be as simple as “will he survive the zombie apocalypse?” In a romance it could be “will she get the man of her dreams?” The point is to make clear that the protagonist’s fate is in doubt. That’s what makes the reader want to know what will happen next. To do this successfully you need to say less not more. Carefully restrict how much information you give the reader. Nothing destroys drama like telling too much too soon. Suspense is what keeps people turning the pages, no matter what genre of story it is.  In some genres suspense may be thought of as frustration.  The reader wants to know something, and the writer keep saying, “I’ll tell you in a minute.” By the time that minute is over the story is done.  If you write thrillers or that subgenre we call suspense, the word worry might work better. I first learned about suspense when I read the Tarzan novels.  Edgar Rice Burroughs had an interesting technique for holding his readers’ attention.  After the first book every story featured both Tarzan and Jane.  They always took off on some adventure, and they always got separated. So, you might see Tarzan running thru the jungle – he comes face to face with a lion – the lion roars – he pulls his knife.  The lion jumps at him and…The chapter ends and we’re following Jane.  She’s lost so she climbs a tree.  She finds herself on the limb with a huge snake.  It gets closer.  She’s about to fall out of the tree.  The snake rises, about to strike and…The chapter ends. We see Tarzan grapple with the lion, but the whole time we’re watching Tarzan, I’m worrying about Jane. At the time I found this kind of thing very frustrating – but fun.  I learned that people like to be frustrated this way.So, suspense is created by posing a question the reader wants answered. For variety, there are different kinds of suspense. I’ll spell a few of them out next week.