In a post on Writers Helping Writers, Michelle Barker offers tips for creating suspense in any genre. “Suspense is an essential element in any story,” she says. “Whenever we create a feeling of anticipation (or dread) that something dangerous or terrible is about to happen, we increase the odds that our reader will keep turning pages.”
Suspense alone isn’t enough, though. The reader has to care about the character in order for the suspense to matter. “You want your reader to bond with the protagonist so that they’re invested in the character’s wellbeing,” Barker writes. “Once you’ve done that, your job is to make the worst things either happen or threaten to happen so that your reader is on the edge of their seat hoping their beloved character will survive.”
In general, suspense is anxiety about the future. Anxiety about the present creates tension or conflict, but these elements are being resolved in the moment. Suspense forces the reader to ask questions about the future. One way to present those questions is foreshadowing. “Foreshadowing prepares the ground for future disaster,” Barker says. “If you do foreshadow and your reader is paying attention, they’ll see the breadcrumbs and sense where they’re leading and think, No. Not that. Please not that. And voilà, you have created suspense.”
You might create suspense with a cliffhanger of some kind, but that’s not the only way, and you shouldn’t use that trick too often in a single novel. Chapters should end with tension and questions about the future, so that the reader is sufficiently intrigued to keep reading. Resolutions should be saved until the end of the story.
Barker also notes the importance of rhythm and pacing. “If you take too long to get the job done, they’ll drop off to sleep,” she says. “If you move too quickly, they might stop caring because you’re not taking the time to develop internal conflict. And internal conflict is what makes readers care.”
You also need to play fair with the reader. You can create suspense by withholding information, but this is a cheat and your reader may feel manipulated. Further, your reveal may be disappointing, if it doesn’t pay off after your build-up. Rather than withholding information about the present – what your protagonist is doing – create questions about the future – how these actions will affect your hero and if there will be fallout.
Creating those kinds of questions requires you to raise the stakes. Your reader won’t feel any tension if your hero goes to the supermarket, but if someone asks him to do something criminal or unethical, the questions will start to ask themselves. “There must be something at stake—consequences if things go wrong,” Barker notes. “The reader needs to be reminded regularly of what they are. And the consequences have to matter—both to the protagonist and to us.”
