In a new post, Janice Hardy says that raising questions in your reader’s mind is the key to creating suspense. “Though we often associate suspense with characters in danger, it’s just the reader’s anticipation of something: waiting for the killer to strike, hoping for that first kiss between beloved characters, wondering when a life-changing bit of information will finally be revealed—these are all things that pique a reader’s interest and keeps them reading,” she says. “Which is what suspense is really all about. A reader who doesn’t want to know what happens next won’t read on to find out.”
What kinds of questions can you ask?
- Literal Questions. Sometimes your characters will ask questions themselves, internally or to other characters. These questions are often related to the characters’ goals.
- Situational Questions. “With a situational question, what’s actually happening in the scene is clear, but the reasons behind it are a mystery,” Hardy explains. “It’s more about discovering the who or why than the what. For example, readers might see two armed men studying a hospital, but who they are, why they’re studying it, and what they plan to do is uncertain.”
- Reaction Questions. These questions are triggered by your character’s choices or reactions. Readers may want to know why a character won’t take a certain action or why they made a specific choice, or anticipate a future action or choice, based on their previous behavior. “If the protagonist is clearly headed toward something bad (or even good), readers will be holding their breaths to see what will happen and how the character will react to it,” Hardy says.
- Information Questions. Your protagonist may be searching for specific information, and discovering it becomes their near-term goal. Sometimes, information is provided to reader, without the protagonist’s direct knowledge.
- Teaser Questions. Teaser questions generally occur at the end of a scene or chapter, and are usually prompted by the answer to a previous question, as new mysteries are raised. Be careful not to ask too many teaser questions or drag out the answer, or readers might get frustrated, or even forget the question altogether.
