How to create suspense in your stories?

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Creating suspense in stories does not necessarily mean creating fear, anguish. The suspense is not necessarily Stephen King. The suspense is when the reader wants to know the rest of the story, when he is impatient to discover the evolution of the characters. He just wants to know the end.

To do this, How to create a Wikipedia page about yourself the author has to deal with the reader’s frustration by taking it easy. This is where his greatest pleasure lies: keeping his reader in suspense. The suspense must be progressive, the frustration must be well managed. Each stage of the novel must contain its share of suspense. The author must go where we do not expect. It must bounce, like a tennis ball. Each rebound is a new episode of suspense. The author must give the reader what he wants to know and maintain the relationship with the latter: through suspense!

The creation of suspense in the book “Les forums” by Bernard Weber

Bernard Weber, in his various lectures, explains that he chose the theme of ants, precisely because there was nothing to say on the subject. Ants don’t do anything, unlike bees. The famous writer took this as a challenge: picking the worst subject to try to make a novel out of it.

Conscientiously, every day from 8 to 12:30 p.m., from the age of 16, Bernard Weber began to write historians on ants. He ended up going through 1,500 pages, but people found it off-putting. He didn’t understand why it wasn’t working.

He had the revelation during a mountain hike in the Pyrenees. The refuge, in which his group wanted to protect themselves, contained only 15 places. However, there were 20. The remaining people were forced to go to another refuge an hour’s walk away, under severe weather conditions on the way. Of course, they got lost. The friends quarreled and fought. Night has come; the group got nervous, with nothing to cover up and spend the night in the cold. The group arrived at the shelter at one in the morning, without food or heat, with a maximum dose of stress.

For Bernard Weber, the creation of suspense, like this anecdote he experienced, is based on frustration. We do not give the reader what he necessarily wants to know. It is appropriate to create a repeating effect. You have to make him want it, like a child who is deprived of candy or a toy. The story then becomes fascinating.

It is necessary to invent the desire, to maintain the frustration of the reader, but not to pull too much on the cord all the same. The novel works like a machine to slightly frustrate the reader to give him desire so that he turns the pages of his novel. The writer must establish an addictive system. Finally, the reader then manages to forget the world in which he evolves and lives. He just wants to know the end.

The ingredients of suspense

Everyday life is a good breeding ground from which the writer can draw inspiration for his novels. To create suspense, he can insert a threat, something that could happen to the character, a danger that hangs over his head.

The character can know where the threat comes from, thanks to small elements scattered here and there, which remind him that the danger is very present. This creates an almost permanent tension by bringing stress as you go.

The gradual endangerment can be moral, psychological, professional or social. This energizes the character; it actually trains the reader. The suspense should not be content to be global, but should appear in small touches, like mini plots that the novelist infiltrates in each scene. He can also raise questions, which he does not have to answer immediately. The hero can be put in an inextricable, insoluble situation which will thrill the reader. The writer can also muddy the waters or use the notion of time wisely to increase the suspense.

To create this suspense, you need the unknown, uncertainty and danger, but the ingredients have to be measured!

In all cases, the suspense is an essential element, even unavoidable in the unfolding of the novel. This dramatic tension is what prompts the reader to turn the pages and makes them appreciate the story, however long it may be or not.

Create the elements of suspense

You can easily draw inspiration from everyday life; it is a common subject for novels or other literary formats. To do this, just insert a threat, something that might happen to your character, insert a danger that hangs over his head.

The character can know where the threat is coming from. Or not. A few small elements scattered throughout the novel can remind the hero that the danger is very present and may fall on him at any time. The stress brought on by the plot also creates suspense.

The endangerment of your character can be of all kinds, from all origins. You can explore all possible areas at your leisure. Obviously, by positioning your hero under tension, you put your reader in the same state, which will encourage him to continue reading with relish.

Create emotions in the reader

It is very important when you write a suspense story to multiply the emotions of the reader by playing on small keys. Your main goal is to hook the reader so that they never want to let go of your book. The latter will wonder if the hero will be able to achieve his goal.

You can do this by asking questions within your chapters, without actually writing actual Wikipedia writers for hire interrogative sentences. The questions are therefore raised in your novel, but you are absolutely not obliged to immediately answer a question asked. This can be done 2 or 3 scenes later, the time to keep the reader in suspense.

But, the reader should also know precisely what the consequences are if the hero fails. Then foresee serious consequences. You can play on the fears and anxieties of your characters, by putting them face to face with their fears. In turn, the reader will find himself faced with these same fears.

You can force your main character to make impossible choices, to confront him with an unbearable dilemma. Dilemmas help create a lot of suspense, which will force the reader to wonder what choice their hero will make, who they identify with.

There is also a technique widely used by authors to create suspense and play with the emotions of the reader. You can reveal to the reader what the character does not know, by giving him bits of information, which leads him to wonder about the position adopted by the character. This clairvoyance allows him to foresee the dangers that could arise. In this case, the author relies on anxiety and fear to induce suspense.

Another effective strategy is the use of time constraints. Thrillers easily use this kind of effect. They set up, for example, a race against time. The main character must reach his goal before a certain date or time.

For example, a bomb will go off or hostages will die if a ransom is not delivered on time. Attached to the character, the reader will grit their teeth. Tension and suspense will then be at their maximum. These elements thus make it easy to create conflicts which are the heart and soul of good fiction.

The suspense can also come from an unpredictable situation. Nothing has to be easy for your main character. Make his life difficult, endanger him, and make him lose some of his most precious possessions or the people he loves, be horrible with him: so play with the reader’s emotions!

All these ingredients make up the saga that I am reading, Outlander by Diana Abandon. As a reader, arriving at volume 6, I am used to twists and turns that are cold in the back from the beginning. The author did not hesitate to sometimes create an unbearable suspense. There is never a respite, or so, for a very short time!

In fact, to give you a picture, the reader has to read while riding a roller coaster while reading. Still think about resting it from time to time, the time to breathe to prepare for a new element of suspense. Don’t stuff it like the ducks in southwestern France either! Too much suspense kills suspense … Too much transparency kills suspense too…

Suspense is what turns the pages on the reader! It is absolutely necessary for a successful plot, essential to dive headlong into the story so as not to want to put the book down. Easier said than done: you have to succeed in linking the scenes by increasing the tension as you go, by varying the techniques in addition!