{"id":2479,"date":"2026-04-03T16:42:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T23:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.doniscasey.com\/?p=2479"},"modified":"2026-04-03T16:42:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T23:42:25","slug":"oh-the-suspense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.doniscasey.com\/?p=2479","title":{"rendered":"Oh, The Suspense!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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When I\u2019m really in the writing zone, in the midst of a scene, I\u2019ve been known to leap up from the computer and begin pacing the floor, unaware of my surroundings, muttering dialog to myself. I imagine that to an observer I look like a hands-free cell-phone user (or someone who is off her meds). Except there\u2019s not a person on the other end – there\u2019s another world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I sometimes have to figure out how I\u2019m going to pull off the particular scene I have in mind. I know what I would like the reader to see in her head, what emotions or feelings I\u2019d like to convey, but what is the most effective way to paint that picture, to evoke those feelings? If I write the scene in two or three different ways, I\u2019ll often be able to come up with the right combination of images, but occasionally, I\u2019ll realize that I don\u2019t quite have it. What I need is more suspense!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s when I go hunting. If I need more suspense, I pick out several works – literature or movies – that made me tense, and try to pick apart how it was done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m always looking for effective ways to build tension. In the course of writing several books, I\u2019ve seen and read all the classic suspense-building techniques in action, and keep a list of examples, not only to remind myself, but to use as a teaching tool as well. No matter what genre of book or story you are writing, a sense of suspense \u2013 anticipation \u2013 is necessary. Will the guy get the girl? Will the thieves pull off the heist? Will the astronaut evade the alien? Will the sheriff outdraw the outlaw? Will the ill child live? We readers want to know how it all turns out! And we authors want you to keep reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A refresher on suspense-building never goes amiss, Dear Reader. Here are a few popular techniques I’ve garnered over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ticking Clock <\/strong>: Our hero must accomplish something before a horrible thing happens. Diffuse the bomb before it goes off in two minutes! Find out who really did it before the wrong man is hanged! Great example, the movie\u00a0D.O.A<\/em>. (the 1950 original with Edmond O\u2019Brien is better than the 1988 Dennis Quaid version.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drag Out the Action<\/strong> : Seems counterintuitive, doesn\u2019t it? But if you just know the trap is going to spring, and it doesn\u2019t … doesn\u2019t…doesn\u2019t… The anticipation is killing me! The trick here is timing. You have to know when enough is enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Add More Peril <\/strong>: Our heroine is running through the jungle and the Columbian drug suppliers are right behind her, brandishing their machetes. She crashes through the brush, and finds herself on the edge of a cliff! There is a river at the bottom of the gorge, so she takes a leap, just feeling the breeze as a blade slashes over her head. She falls 75 feet into the river and realizes it\u2019s infested with piranhas! She swims like the dickens, piranhas nipping at her heels, and as she nears the shore, 40 tribesmen with poisoned dart blowguns step out from the trees… No matter how bad the situation is, it can always be worse. Great examples, any of the\u00a0Die Hard\u00a0<\/em>movies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I Know Something You Don\u2019t Know <\/strong>: The author has told us the villain is hiding under the stairs, butthe hero has no idea as he walks down into the dark basement. The author gives us a piece of crucial information that the characters don\u2019t have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cliffhanger<\/strong> : Remember the villain under the stairs? He leaps out! He grabs the hero around the neck! He pulls a knife! Meanwhile, back at the ranch… The reason the reader doesn’t throw the book against the wall in frustration is because he wants to know what’s been going on back at the ranch, too. Great example,\u00a0Hour of the Hunter\u00a0<\/em>by J.A. Jance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Hands Are Tied <\/strong>: Our hero can see disaster about to happen, but is powerless to stop it. Greatest example of all time, Alfred Hitchcock\u2019s movie\u00a0Rear Window<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back <\/strong>: Our sleuth spends weeks investigating Laura\u2019s murder. He cannot discover a single clue to her death. Everyone loved her! She was wonderful and squeaky clean. He\u2019s baffled, and sits in her apartment long into the night, pondering. One midnight, the front door opens, and … it\u2019s Laura! She\u2019s alive! Then who is the woman who was found lying on the floor of Laura\u2019s apartment, wearing her clothes, shot in the face with a shotgun? And where has Laura been all this time? Ultimate example, the 1944 movie\u00a0Laura.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And one of my favorites \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreshadowing<\/strong> : This takes some skill to pull off well. The author gives us a hint that eventually something bad is going to happen, and the reader spends 300 pages in tingling anticipation She has that sense of inevitability. You say your hero is afraid of water – the reader just knows that fear is going to figure in to the climax.\u00a0We knew it would come to this<\/em>. If the author has set it up well, there are even a couple of false payoffs, leaving us still waiting with bated breath for it to happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I\u2019m really in the writing zone, in the midst of a scene, I\u2019ve been known to leap up from the computer and begin pacing the floor, unaware of my surroundings, muttering dialog to myself. I imagine that to an observer I look like a hands-free cell-phone user (or someone who is off her meds). […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[411],"class_list":["post-2479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-writing-suspense"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2H58s-DZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doniscasey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doniscasey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doniscasey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doniscasey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doniscasey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2479"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.doniscasey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2482,"href":"https:\/\/www.doniscasey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2479\/revisions\/2482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.doniscasey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doniscasey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.doniscasey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}