A Guide To Tension & Suspense In Your Writing
– This is a guide to creating tension and suspense in your writing. A lot of this information can be found elsewhere, but had helped me immensely so I’ve decided to share it with you. There will be a small list of more in-depth resources for the tips I supply here at the bottom of this post. Enjoy!
Balance the tension with other tones, such as humor. Soften the blow of the tense scenes with little bursts of laughter and this will keep your reader in suspense.
Be Intentional With Pacing And Timing
Make scenes fast paced when you’re building suspense, slow it down when you want your reader to feel the tension build and simmer in their chest. Be mindful of how you turn up the notches of tension and suspense throughout the story.
Create A Really Good Antagonist
A good villain will take away the reader’s sense of “heroes always get happy endings” which builds suspension. Taking away this common source of comfort for readers will keep the tensions high and their minds constantly guessing with every unexpected turn. Avoid cliches when it comes to villains, such as giving the hero a convenient amount of time to escape their constraints while the villain monologues. Smart villains are far more interesting.
Create A Really Good Protagonist
Avoid tropes like the normal person who gets thrown into a situation. Deepen their personalities in order to take away the reader’s sense of knowing what the protagonist will do. Avoid hero cliches and make them interact with the villain. Deeper stories and meanings within the plot make twists and turns more interesting, which keeps the readers in the dark.
The character should always be in a place that serves to move the story forward. The setting should not be background noise. It should be an important part of the scene. Contrast in setting can also keep your readers on their toes.
Your readers won’t be in suspense if they can accurately guess what’s going to happen next. Surprise them. That’s the point. Also, avoiding common tropes is very important. Tropes are just another way for your reader to get bored. They don’t provide any suspense.
Manipulate The Reader’s Emotions
The readers are, hopefully, emotionally invested in the characters and the storyline, so, while they know that something is going to happen, they don’t know exactly when, so utilize this. Strike at the precise moment where your reader expects it the least. This is difficult, but possible.
Components Of Underlying Tension & Suspense
Conflict: Make your readers desperate for more stable conditions for the characters they hold so dear to their hearts.
Uncertainty: Your reader has to (to some extent) have some confusion sitting in the back of their mind.
Anticipation: Your readers should have a feeling something bad is going to happen. Negative events create feelings of fear.
Emotional Significance: Create outcomes that prey on the emotion your reader has to the characters or plot to create tension and suspense.
Lack of Control: Your reader should feel desperate for some sense of control of the situation, but ultimately should feel the reality of only being able to sit and watch as things play out.
Temporal Aspects: Stakes should be added to the situation, such as a set time in which the character has to solve a problem.
Other Resources For You To Use:
Writing Suspense The Hitchcock Way
6 Key Components of Underlying Tension & Suspense
41 Ways To Create and Heighten Suspense
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