Escalating Conflict

Sit down with a good book and hope for a relaxing evening. The opening sentence immediately captures your attention, and before long, an hour has turned into four. Your feet are tucked under you, and you’re buried beneath a blanket, and yet, you keep turning the page. Why?

The stakes keep rising, tension soars, and the protagonist walks into a trap. Your mouth goes dry, and your pulse increases? She shouldn’t go alone. Will she become his next victim?

“Wait,” your inner voice yells. You want to help her avoid harm or certain death, but you can’t. It’s the author’s responsibility to pull her through.

Page by page, the suspense intensifies. Suddenly, the antagonist appears. He’s snide and vindictive and plans his attack. He knows her weakness and will use it to get what he wants. He sharpens his knife and slides the blade across his finger. Blood oozes. He confirms it’s sharpness and laughs.

But wait, the protagonist is now running through the dense fog in the depths of a forest, and, yes, she’s alone. She’s out of breath, but she knows he’s on her trail. How much further can she run? She stalls and hides behind a tree. Will he hear her gasping for breath?

You swallow hard, and your heart races — anticipation grabs your throat. The story can’t end like this. She can’t die, can she? You turn the page, still consumed with the story. What will happen next?

His arms reach around the tree with a knife in one hand. You gasp. He gives his wrist a quick thrust in hopes of eliminating his prey, but slices into the tree trunk instead. Did she escape? You must keep reading to find out and help her reach safety.

Suspense is one of those gripping genres that keeps you on your toes. Thrillers do the same. Well-Written suspense or thrillers will thrust you into the depths of the story, and capture your intrigue.

Once such incident happened to me. As much as I love suspense, I picked up a thriller. The plot was so intense I couldn’t put the book down. I didn’t like the cynical antagonist, and yet, I kept reading. Why? Because I had to know how the story would end and have the satisfaction of knowing that the bad guy met his fate.

This reaction is just what the author desires of her audience, to capture their attention and keep them turning the page. It takes well-organized planning for authors to pull off such responses.

• Create the reader’s empathy for your protagonist by helping them identity with her internal struggle.
• Put pressure on your antagonist.
• Keep the stakes high. What does she want, and what does she have to lose?
• Keep your reader guessing about what will happen next. Write the unpredictable.
• Escalate tension. Short sentences help build tension.
• Using red herrings helps redirect the reader’s attention from the real antagonist and creates added tension and uncertainty.
• Fulfill your promise to deliver a satisfying outcome/ending.

Suspense, thrillers, and mysteries will continue to draw readers of all ages. What have you learned by writing and reading in these genres?

Loretta Eidson writes romantic suspense. She has won and been a finalist in several writing contests, including first place in romantic suspense in the Foundations Awards at the 2018 Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference, a finalist in ACFW’s 2018 Genesis, was a finalist in the 2018 Fabulous Five, and a double finalist in the 2017 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence.

            Loretta lives in North Mississippi with her husband Kenneth, a retired Memphis Police Captain. She loves salted caramel lava cake, dark chocolate, and caramel Frappuccinos.

Visit her:

Website: lorettaeidson.com

Facebok: loretta.eidson.7