MUSTANG LIBRARY PRESENTS SUSPENSE What is suspense When

MUSTANG LIBRARY PRESENTS: SUSPENSE!

What is suspense? • When you think of suspense, what do you think of? • Who are some of your favorite authors? • What were some of your favorite scenes? • Name some of your favorite series characters.

Favorite Authors • • • Lee Child Clive Cussler Tami Hoag Harlan Coben Dean Koontz James Rollins

Elements of Suspense Chase Ticking Clock Reverses Small mysteries about character and overall plot Character development is put on a backburner for the most part • Lots of action • Unreliable narrator • • •

Suspense Flavors • • International Domestic Historical Archeological Psychological Horror In fact, there’s no genre suspense isn’t a part of

Viewpoint • • 3 rd person singular 3 rd person multiple 1 st person Mix of 1 st and 3 rd

Through-line(s) • A through-line is a theme or idea that runs from the beginning of the book to the end • Should you have one or more? • If you have more than one through-line, does the main one change as the hero learns information/gets redirected? • Do multiple through-lines detract or add to the reading experience? • Should the villain(s) have a through-line as well?

Heroes & Villains • Can be larger than life, but have to be understandable • Can be average people trapped in extraordinary circumstance • Should you have multiple heroes/villains? • What is the difference between a first tier character and a second tier character? • All of the main characters should be fleshed out BEFORE writing begins. • You can still discover things about your characters along the way. • 45 MASTER CHARACTERS by Victoria Lynn Schmidt

Plotting • 3 -act structure • 20 -60 -20 split (in some suspense, it might be closer to 10 -80 -10) • 2 nd act breaks in the middle as character grows/changes/figures things out • James Scott Bell calls this the Mirror Moment and it’s in a lot of films, especially suspense movies • Endings have to be well thought-out, crafted, and not just “fall together” • Readers want to see the hero succeed, the villain get trounced, and the mysteries get solved

Surprises/Twists • Readers of suspense get bored easily if they think they can figure out your story • Good guy struggling against bad guy? • No stress there. We know the hero wins. • Except in horror stories. Good guys don’t always win there. • So you have to pull rabbits out of hats, change up the pacing, reset the ticking clock, and add others to the chase to ramp up the suspense • You always have to change the game, take away hero resources, take away information, let the character know the plan has been built on a lie • Character needs to be betrayed by someone they depended on • All of this has to be organic to the story, can’t just come out of left field

NCIS episode • Opening teaser—a murder occurs • 1 st act—investigation begins and general idea is formed • 2 nd act—more information comes in, what was really going on was something different after all • 3 rd act—again, more information, something different again • 4 th act—final confrontation • The writers manage to introduce lots of sketched-in background information through the use of Ducky, Abbie, and the computer monitor reviews • Those episodes spin like a Swiss watch

Bones of Suspense • Begin with an exciting moment (Clive Cussler, James Rollins) or an interesting one (Tami Hoag, Lee Child) • Use engaging heroes in a fight for their lives • Story is told primarily moment by moment, not summarized—push ever scene for excitement • Constantly raise the stakes—isolate and beat your heroes near to death • Stay close to the bone on the story line—even when you’re working in subplots—all of that has to work together • It’s better to start with a developed outline • Work out a timeline to keep your ticking clock effective • Recommended reading: SUPER STRUCTURE and PLOT & STRUCTURE by James Scott Bell. MAKING A SCENE by Jordan E. Rosenfeld. WRITING THRILLERS by Michael Newton. SCENE & STRUCTURE by Jack Bickham.