• Basic Writing questions is not a crit forum. All crits belong in Share Your Work

A Simple Way to Create Suspense (article)

Status
Not open for further replies.

Bufty

Where have the last ten years gone?
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 9, 2005
Messages
16,768
Reaction score
4,663
Location
Scotland
For an article intended to show how to create suspense and hold a reader's attention I found it dreadfully boring (ETA even though I see it was written by Lee Child) and I stopped reading long before the end.
 
Last edited:

Sonsofthepharaohs

Still writing the ancient Egyptian tetralogy
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
5,260
Reaction score
2,674
Location
UK
For an article intended to show how to create suspense and hold a reader's attention I found it dreadfully boring and I stopped reading long before the end.

Oh god, me too. Added a certain irony to the smug comment about how he was creating suspense in the article. At the 'and you're still reading' part I instantly said 'not anymore I aint, bud' and closed the window.

And this technique can fall flat for other reasons too. I recently betaed a friends chapter 1, and the first line raised a very definite question that needed an answer. 1300 words later, it still hadn't been answered, and was starting to require more than a little author subterfuge and sleight of hand to avoid answering it. The eventual revelation was anti climactic. Therefore instead of suspense, what she had created was false tension that quickly resulted in the readers' frustration and annoyance.

Suspense is fine, but the payoff has to be in proportion to the pain and duration of the wait.
 

Undercover

I got it covered
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 1, 2010
Messages
10,432
Reaction score
2,054
Location
Not here, but there
Two many analogies like baking a cake or a movie or something, simple way is to keep the reader hanging till the end.
 

Mrs. de Winter

Eating cookies
Registered
Joined
May 30, 2012
Messages
43
Reaction score
2
Oh god, me too. Added a certain irony to the smug comment about how he was creating suspense in the article. At the 'and you're still reading' part I instantly said 'not anymore I aint, bud' and closed the window.

And this technique can fall flat for other reasons too. I recently betaed a friends chapter 1, and the first line raised a very definite question that needed an answer. 1300 words later, it still hadn't been answered, and was starting to require more than a little author subterfuge and sleight of hand to avoid answering it. The eventual revelation was anti climactic. Therefore instead of suspense, what she had created was false tension that quickly resulted in the readers' frustration and annoyance.

Suspense is fine, but the payoff has to be in proportion to the pain and duration of the wait.

I agree--I think like anything in writing it can be done well or not so well. Like you said, when the author has to go out of their way to hide information from the reader just to keep the "suspense" going, it's just annoying.
 

Billycourty

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 8, 2009
Messages
369
Reaction score
25
Location
Paris
Boring or not, the comment about the remote was awesome. I never knew that!
 

Scribhneoir

Reinventing Myself
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 1, 2006
Messages
1,165
Reaction score
134
Location
Southern California
Boring or not, the comment about the remote was awesome. I never knew that!

Hmm. When he posed the question, I assumed the answer was "VCR." I know my family's TV had a remote long before 1980. By 1990 we had too many remotes ... :tongue
 

writeontime

Why so serious?
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 3, 2012
Messages
208
Reaction score
18
Location
UK
I read the article the other day and got momentarily stuck on pondering the comparison between baking a cake and writing suspense.

Still, it was interesting to read his approach on it.

Other than that, I have to confess that when it comes to reading or viewing suspense/thrillers, I'm a terrible example. I tend to read the first chapter and then skip to the end to discover who's the perpetrator. Similarly with films and the current Danish noir series The Killing - I have to read the spoilers before I can actually settle down to watch it (The Killing) in peace.
 

Billycourty

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 8, 2009
Messages
369
Reaction score
25
Location
Paris
Hmm. When he posed the question, I assumed the answer was "VCR." I know my family's TV had a remote long before 1980. By 1990 we had too many remotes ... :tongue

Tee hee, honestly I have no idea when telecomands were invented. My family lived in a cave, then a tin shed so you know, tech is tech. However, I still found the comment funny because it would had occured. And I never thought of that!
 

Scribhneoir

Reinventing Myself
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 1, 2006
Messages
1,165
Reaction score
134
Location
Southern California
Tee hee, honestly I have no idea when telecomands were invented.

Zenith's first wireless TV remote control went into production in 1956.

When I was a kid, my dog could change channels by scratching and jingling the tags on his collar. The jingling tags hit just the right frequency and we'd suddenly be treated to a quick sampling of every channel on the spectrum until the dog's itch was relieved.
 

BethS

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 21, 2005
Messages
11,708
Reaction score
1,763
Zenith's first wireless TV remote control went into production in 1956.

Actually, it was not their first wireless remote. It was their second. The first one used used photocells and a flashlight.

I'm fascinated that wireless remotes were around that early. We never had one at our house when I was growing up, though we did have a black-and-white Zenith.
 

Susan Coffin

Tell it like it Is
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 24, 2007
Messages
8,049
Reaction score
770
Location
Clearlake Park, CA
Website
www.strokingthepen.com

boozysassmouth

Warthog, skin is already thick.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 6, 2012
Messages
76
Reaction score
1
Location
Not where I want to be.
When I was a kid, my dog could change channels by scratching and jingling the tags on his collar. The jingling tags hit just the right frequency and we'd suddenly be treated to a quick sampling of every channel on the spectrum until the dog's itch was relieved.

That is kind of awesome, and must have been highly entertaining. Though I suppose after awhile it was more annoying than anything else.

As for the article. I like the simplicity of the idea, and I think it's something to keep in mind, especially when I'm struggling to create suspense. But like some other people commented, I couldn't get through it. The third time he paused and said "notice that I what I did there", I just had to leave. But then, I don't care for Child's fiction either.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.