Writing a Book: "How to Build Suspense" by Meghan Barnes

Note: We've assembled an incredibly talented staff here in the Tate Publishing editing department, and they will be posting at On Writing from time to time to share their expertise. Meghan Barnes has been with Tate Publishing since the fall of 2007 and has a background in professional writing and journalism. She was previously the managing editor at a culture magazine and an adjunct professor of journalism at the University of Oklahoma.

Building Suspense
It must be the newly arrived fall weather—the gray sky, last night’s rain settling in, the pavement with just a few soaked spots left, cooler air, pumpkins, Halloween approaching—but this morning I couldn’t stop thinking about suspense writing. If you’ve never read suspense, I highly recommend it. Well-written suspense is something that will keep a reader coming back for more. It’s the kind of writing that you read in bed or on the couch at night, and you have to read through your fingers or close the book for a second because it’s just too much…but you can’t stop reading! No. You always go back. And then you read another suspense thriller.

Likewise, if you’ve never tried writing suspense, I recommend it as a good writing exercise. I’m not talking terribly gory, horror suspense writing. The contemporary writer can employ suspense techniques in even the most cheery novel. Every novel has some level of suspense in it. (Thanks to Professor Deborah Chester for the original ideas behind these tips.)

1. Create a sympathetic protagonist. That way the reader will care more when he or she is in any sort of danger.

2. Imagery and tone are everything. Use descriptive words and phrases to set the proper mood for any encounter but especially suspenseful encounters. As a general rule: choose your words deliberately.

3. Set up a threat early in the story. As soon as you’ve got trouble, the reader can start worrying about it!

4. Keep the outcome uncertain. The reader has nothing better to do than to try and outguess you.

5. The threats and/or dangers to your characters cannot be false.

6. Don’t overload the story with too many consecutive scenes with shock. In other words, don’t overload the reader’s fear circuit. Give him breathing room, lest your suspense dissipate. We all have to release tension at some point. Think of the story in terms of a roller coaster, keeping the book unsettling to the reader (in a good way!).

7. In action-packed stories, have your hero tackle a series of obstacles toward the late-middle part of the story (examples: Misery, Dr. No, Rear Window).

8. If your protagonist is probing into secrets or secret territory, don’t forget the “Don’t open that door!” principle: the thing behind the door should get the character!

9. Danger is more threatening when your character is isolated. Use your imagination; there are lots of forms of isolation.

10. Darkness offers the ideal stage setting for danger. It triggers primal fears, which can cause more fun problems.

11. Utilize chase scenes when applicable. If the bad guy is in pursuit of the hero, remember that each step of the chase should make the hero’s chances slimmer. Narrow that gap! If the hero is in pursuit of the bad guy (this is often used when the hero is a public official), the hero and villain should be evenly matched. Often the villain will turn right back on the hero. Another technique often used here is to move the hero into unfamiliar territory.

12. Establish a ticking clock! But make sure it’s a genuine restriction on the plot. Don’t throw multiple coincidences in your hero’s way. For example, you should probably not include more than one instance of “bad luck.”

Bonus: Use of Anticipation
1. Build anticipation through the use of primal fears (darkness, the basement, etc.)
2. Include a character teetering between sanity and madness!
3. Suicidal characters work in some stories.
4. Put shocks into the story. Surprise your reader!
5. Be sure to fulfill certain reader expectations (e.g., those confrontations that are obligatory, that you know your reader is waiting for).

Ultimately, your reader is trying to get ahead of you (especially you mystery writers), but they don’t really want to win. They want to be surprised! Happy writing…

On a side note, is there a particular book you find yourself going back to every October?

-Meghan Barnes, Associate Conceptual Editor, Tate Publishing