Writers Chat, hosted by Johnnie Alexander, Brandy Brow, and Melissa Stroh is the show where we talk about all things writing, by writers and for writers!
“Because talking about writing is more fun than actually doing it.”
Come Write with Us: Writing Fight Scenes with Crystal Caudill
Award-winning author Crystal Caudill joins us again so we can practice what we learned in her previous episode about writing both physical and verbal fight scenes (Picking the Write Fight; 1/16/24). After a brief recap of the earlier episode that focused on the purpose of a fight scene, Crystal led a brief brainstorming session. Then she asked specific questions that guided us in writing our own fight scenes. Every story needs tension to engage readers. Watch the replay to learn more from this week’s episode.
Watch the March 19th Replay
Crystal Caudill is the award-winning author of “dangerously good historical romance. She is a stay-at-home mom and caregiver. When not writing, Crystal can be found hanging with her family, drinking hot tea, or reading at her home outside Cincinnati, Ohio. Find out more at crystalcaudill.com.
Fiction Series Collaboration with Naomi Musch and Amy Walsh
Naomi and Amy have participated in several collaborative fiction projects. Today they share advice on creating a marketable project that novelists will love to write and fans will love to read. They cover such topics as the difference between a series and an anthology, finding a common element for the stories in the collection, financial commitment and so much more. This episode is a great starting place for anyone who is interested in creating or participating in a series or an anthology.
Watch the March 26th replay
Naomi Musch writes to bring hope that will change the story—maybe even her own. Some of her novels have been finalists in the Carol Awards; the Faith, Hope, and Love Readers’ Choice Awards; the Selah Awards; and have been twice nominated for Book of the Year. Naomi’s perfect day is spent writing, roaming the farm, and loving on her passel of grandchildren.
Amy Walsh writes historical and contemporary romance, mysteries, speculative fiction, and women’s fiction. She is a 5th-grade writing teacher in an urban public school. Amy and her husband, Patrick, have three creative children. Amy considers herself greatly blessed in the roles God has given her as an earthling–including aspiring wordsmith, teacher of youngsters, nature appreciator, tea aficionado, avid dessert fan, book fanatic, lover of family and friends, and Christ-follower.
Writers Chat is hosted live each Tuesday for an hour starting at 10 AM CT / 11 AM ET on Zoom. The permanent Zoom room link is: http://zoom.us/j/4074198133
“We promise according to our hopes, and perform according to our fears.”
Rochefoucauld
You have every reason to be afraid. In fact, if you’re not scared, you’re probably nuts. Some would say that being monumentally skewed is helpful to becoming a successful writer. But for those of us burdened with sanity, we must learn how to deal with our fears.
You would think that after a while this whole fear thing might fade into the background. Maybe for some people this happens, but for myself, and other writers, the struggle is real.
When I started work on the first book in my current series, Miramar Bay, I had three very real bugaboos staring me in the face—like returning to the childhood era of waking up knowing there was a monster under my bed. Only in this case, I knew the monsters were real, because I made them.
Monster One
I was writing for a new publisher. And a new editor, whom I liked. A lot. And I really, really wanted to impress her.
Monster Two
I had a secret hope that this new story would frame the direction of my writing for years to come, possibly the rest of my career. Which meant I had to get it right.
Monster Three
I was writing a new story. Fear doesn’t vanish because I’ve written a book before. Nor does it matter much that currently I’m writing the fifth book in this series. I’ve just learned Publishers Weekly and Coming Home magazines are both doing articles on the fourth book, due for release in April–and the initial reviews are great. Okay, this helps. But now Monster Three is even bigger, because I need to make book five better than previous books.
Monster Four
I’m co-authoring a new suspense series, with a great young author and, on the script side, working with a new film agent.
Monster Five
The UK Covid crisis has added its own set of monsters. Its impact on both publishing and the film-production world cannot be overstated.
Then last week I heard this story. Actually, I’d heard it long before, and forgotten it. This time, the hearing was a true gift.
One of my absolute favorite actors is Laurence Olivier, whose ability to lose himself in a role was so great I often found myself becoming lost with him. The power he had to ensnare and captivate has remained an inspiration and challenge to me throughout my career.
Olivier often suffered from such intense bouts of terror, he was bodily forced on stage. He once confessed to being afraid for five years. This was at the height of his worldwide fame. Beloved by millions around the globe, yet so terrified of standing in front of a camera he would beg, plead, and fight not to perform.
Fear and doubt plagues us all, even successful people. As long as you aspire to grow, do better, aim higher, these barriers remain a part of your creative life. In my experience, fighting them is almost as futile as pretending they don’t exist.
What should an author do?
Doubt, fear, and tension are very much a part of you and the creative process. A vital part.
It might help to build a segment of your creative world where these elements are granted space and are accepted, then you can use them, allow them to push you beyond your comfort zone. Grow. Question. Develop. Become the best author possible.
How I both distill and utilize these energies.
My top creative period is the early morning. I will explore exactly what this means in another concept. For now, I want to talk about the rest of the day.
When a free ten minutes (or less) appears, I sketch. I carry a pad with me everywhere. Supermarket. Walks. Even when I go for my bike rides or to the gym. The aim is to explore. Free thinking. No holds barred. I write whatever comes to me. And gradually the next scene unfolds.
I give all the monsters free reign. What if I change this? Do away with that. Worry over not making this segment fit. Action that doesn’t hold enough tension. All these things. Over and over and over.
Two amazing results come from granting space to doubt and fear.
First, the next morning I approach my writing desk, and the fragments spin together. Tight, concise, powerful. Over and over and over. Day after day.
Second, my productivity soars. I began applying this process twelve years ago, and since then my creative drive has accelerated.
What does this mean?
In the past twelve months I have written two full-length novels and half a new Christmas novella, a feature-film screenplay, a season-one streaming series overview, a new pilot episode, and two magazine articles.
This process works. The energy contained within your doubts and fears is explosive. If you break free of the need to fight against them, but embrace them and grow.
Try This:
Name your monsters.
If it helps, go buy some stuffed animals, line them up, and name them.
Accept that they are, in a strange way, your allies. Because, if you let them, they can be the voices that spur you on to great and courageous deeds.
Davis Bunn’s novels have sold in excess of eight million copies in twenty-four languages. The sequel, entitled Rare Earth, won Davis his fourth Christy Award for Excellence in Fiction in 2013. In 2014 Davis was granted the Lifetime Achievement award by the Christy board of judges. His recent title Trial Run has been named Best Book of The Year by Suspense Magazine. His most recent series, Miramar Bay, haw been acquired for world-wide condensation-books by Readers Digest. Currently Davis serves as Writer-In-Residence at Regent’s Park College, Oxford University.
There’s nothing more disappointing than picking up a novel described as mystery, suspense, or thriller, fully expecting a hair-raising adventure, only to find it failed to meet its genre expectations.
A bee sting doesn’t merit being called a suspense scene unless the heroine is deathly allergic and will go into anaphylactic shock without immediate treatment. Then, tension soars because the reader wonders if the murderer cleverly orchestrated the danger.
Wondering if a baseball player will hit a home run in the last inning of the game can become intense, but what if the stakes shot higher? How much more would the suspense escalate if someone replaced the game ball with a fake one containing a bomb? What? Who? And why?
Think about actual life situations and the escalating feelings of shock, fear, trepidation, and horror that are increasingly overwhelming. Did goosebumps appear? Were there screams and tears? Shaking, nervousness, or fainting?
Make your scenes realistic, like these.
1. A man’s face appeared in the kitchen window while she washed the dinner dishes. She screamed. Water doused the floor. She bolted. Shock, fear, and adrenaline sent her plowing through the house as she tried to escape.
2. The green car pulled to the curb. The passenger door flung open, exposing the empty passenger seat. The driver pointed a gun and demanded she get in, or else. She darted down the street toward home, and he didn’t shoot, but sped away.
3. Two female teenagers walked down the road, returning home from the store a few blocks from home. A pickup passed with two men in the flat bed portion of the truck. Gunshots fired. The zing of a bullet passed close to one girl’s head. The other girl held her hands over her ears and screamed.
4. A young mother soaked in the bathtub while her baby napped. Her husband stormed into the bathroom in a rage, pointing a gun in her face. He claimed she was the enemy, and he was going to kill her. He ranted and left as quickly as he’d come. Soaking wet, she jerked on her clothing, grabbed her baby, and ran for her life.
5. A teenage girl moved into an apartment for her first experience of living on her own. She arrived home from work one day and settled in for a quiet evening. Suddenly, unfamiliar angry male voices shouted and pounded on the front door. Mortified, she ran to her bedroom, locked the door, and scampered into the closet, pulling clothes over her head. Crash! They kicked in the front door and started shooting. Her hands shook uncontrollably, but she called her mom and whispered through breathless sobs that she was about to die. Her bedroom doorknob twisted. Sirens rang. Heavy footsteps grew distant as the men ran from the apartment. Police arrived only moments before her mother. She jumped into her mom’s arms and left, never to return to the apartment. This innocent teen escaped death, but the trauma remained.
Each scenario mentioned above actually happened. How easy would it be to expound on them and develop a fabulous suspense story?
Breathe life into your characters and make their feelings and reactions realistic. Read the newspapers, listen to the news, or watch the crowds. There’s a hidden story out there waiting to emerge.
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.
Are pets an asset or an albatross in our mystery, suspense, and thriller genre?
Pets have shown up in film since the time of silent movies and far earlier in the written word. Both film makers and authors draw out strong emotions through the use of animals.
Dogs seem to be a staple in cozy mysteries and romance stories, adding a feel-good dimension. Lassie and Rin Tin Tin, the iconic furry best friends of the shows of the 1950s and 60s, elicited a sense of stability as they sought justice alongside their human companions.
On the opposite, movies and books abound with examples of less than stellar animals––Cujo, the St. Bernard, from 1980s movie and Stephen King novel, The Shining, the zombie Malamute from the movie, Pet Sematary II, based on another Stephen King novel, and the wild Aussie dogs cross bred with wolves in the 2015 Australian film, The Pack.
One image connotes sloppy kisses and waggling tails, the other, bared teeth, drool, and mange.
Let’s consider three uses for employing a pet character:
Rachet up the tension and conflict
Describe a character
Create mood.
Tension and conflict
The reader feels unsettled when the family dog raises its hackles as it stares at a blank wall, or the cat unexpectedly claws a long-time friend. The dog jumping from the bed and barking in the middle of the night serves the same purpose. Our characters may respond with fear, curiosity, or amusement––pulling bedcovers up to their chin, running to the dog, grabbing the gun, yelling out in frustration, or simply chuckling—depending on the level of conflict the plot demands. The response raises or lowers the tension.
Character Description
When our character goes for a run with a Labrador in tow, we’re likely looking at a people-person who’s physically fit. Or when the character lives with fifteen cats at the end of the lane in a dilapidated house, we think recluse and a little creepy. Readers may connect Pit Bulls with villains.
If our character houses snakes or iguanas, we view the person differently than one who raises Springer Spaniels. If the dog is chained in the backyard, we think cruelty. If the pooch eats lobster and salmon, our character is either wealthy and indulgent, or self-sacrificing, putting the perceived needs of a pet above their own.
One can visualize each of these characters, as Jerry B. Jenkins says, “in the theater of your mind.”
Create a Mood
Marley and Me, the 2008 movie based on the autobiographical novel by John Grogan of the same name, drew us in as the author interacted with his yellow Labrador Retriever and the grief following his death. The story tugged at viewers’ and readers’ heartstrings, and no doubt, increased fans and book sales alike.
A cat curled in a slant of sunlight ushers in a sense of relaxation. The dog romps through the park, and we want to grab a Frisbee and a pair of running shoes. With the sight of a growling, seething junkyard dog in a dark alley, our backs slam against the wall and our hands reach for a weapon.
Never an afterthought
Like all characters, never throw in a pet without first considering how they enhance the plot. Pets need names, purpose, even backstory. The reader reacts differently to a rescue dog than a show dog, or to a rain-soaked kitten versus a twenty-pound Persian perched on a velvet cushion. But avoid overwhelming the main plot with pet subplots as a way to distract from poor story structure.
Statistics
According to spots.com, two out of every three American homes includes a pet, and 393.3 million pets live in the United States. A 2019/20 pet owners survey reveals over 63 million households in the United States owned at least one dog.
We’re in good company when we include a pet in our novels. They add another tool in our writer’s bag to bring our story to life. Consider casting one in your next mystery, suspense, or thriller and keep your reader turning the page.
Write well, my friends.
PJ Gover
PJ Gover encourages her readers to live the thrill one story at a time. She wrote her first thriller at age nine, all of six pages, but only returned to creating suspense/thrillers years later after unearthing her deceased father’s secret work designing missiles for the government. After thirteen writing awards, including five for first place, her high school English teacher must be shaking her head in disbelief. A ranch in Texas serves as home base. Offer her well-crafted chili rellenos or anything gluten-free and you’ll have a friend for life. Jim Hart of Hartline Literary represents PJ.
Six months ago when the pandemic first came to America, scientists and medical professionals thought that once the temperatures warmed up it would kill the virus and everything would go back to normal.
But, as we know, in a crazy plot twist the heat actually made the virus spread like wildfire and everything got worse.
Businesses began closing back down.
Schools that tried to open have now switched to virtual learning.
Large gatherings are still frowned upon, meaning even movie theaters have yet to fully reopen.
The old adage came true, “what could go wrong, did!” It seems like every time something went wrong, fear and negativity went up. This is a clear example of how conflict encourages action and how actions fuel life.
The same principle applies to storytelling, especially movies. As the stakes are raised, the story is propelled forward when actions are on the rise!
On the Rise!
As we progress forward from our story’s inciting incident, rising action is the vehicle that moves our narrative from scene to scene; eventually to the conclusion of our journey.
Although it seems formulaic, it is more a framework to guide us as we go on the journey with the characters. Famed 19th-century German writer Gustav Freytag divided a story’s plot into five distinct stages:
1. Exposition (sometimes including the inciting incident.)
As we move from scene to scene, action is kinetic. Before the climax it is called rising action, because there is rise in tension, conflict and risk that creates a need for a resolution. It is important to understand that rising action isn’t the climax of our story, but the preparation for and road to it.
Robert McKee points out, “In the ideal last act we want to give the audience a sense of acceleration, a swiftly rising action to climax.”1
The action that follows the climax is called falling action as we let the changes in the narrative lead to a satisfying conclusion. The rising action makes us anticipate a climax where the conflict will peak; falling action is the result of the climax.
Understanding how action works in a story, helps us see which direction it should go.
Which Way?
Rising action in our narrative has a steady charge until the climax, which by nature changes the direction of the story: positive to better, positive to negative, or even negative to worse.
Think of your story’s character arc, where they’ve been and where they’re heading. Rising action is what takes them there. Below are some examples where the rising action changes the course of the story between beginning and end.
The Hobbit: The rising action occurs as Bilbo agrees to act as a burglar during this adventure.
Grease: All the hurdles and obstacles Danny has to overcome to win the heart of Sandy.
Legends of the Fall: As each brother vies for the heart of the same woman in their own way.
Again, rising action isn’t the climax, but the motivation to get there: what should I do? , what shouldn’t I do? moments for example. The answers are when our story peaks at the climax, but up until then it’s simply the action on the rise!
1 McKee R. (1997). Story: Substance, Structure, Style, And The Principle of Screenwriting (Kindle edition) pg Page 218.
Martin Johnson survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Traumatic brain injury which left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to local men’s ministries he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in a Georgia and connects with readers at Spiritual Perspectives of Da Single Guy and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.
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.
If you
are writing a clean or Christian romance, you still need to build tension in
your story. Depending on the story you are telling, the tension may or may not
begin with a denial of attraction. Perhaps they will experience an initial
dislike for the other person or have accepted that they are “just friends.”
Romances, by their nature, promise a love story with a satisfying happily-ever-after ending. Your characters must find a way past the denial stage and realize there is more to their relationship. This is a critical turning point in the story.
Foundation for growth
The
first look or the first physical contact may cause butterflies, but there needs
to be more of a foundation for a relationship to grow. For some
characters, it will be a wish or a desire for affection. Maybe a dream of
having a happily-ever-after, no matter how unlikely it seems with the person
they feel attracted to.
The wishing for a relationship must turn to your characters to wanting to spend time together, even if one or both are still in denial. They need to begin looking forward to seeing each other. Maybe external circumstances draw them together, which results in them becoming more comfortable with each other.
That
doesn’t mean they are suddenly emotionally on the same page. They may have
intense disagreements about something in the story. Perhaps one wants to sell a
ranch, and the other wants to keep it, but neither is willing to walk away. So
builds the push and pull of their relationship.
As they learn more about each other, they learn to coexist in their story world. Your characters develop a daily routine, whether they are sharing the same space, as in the ranch example, or regularly seeing each other over a common situation.
It’s at this stage, that each partner will begin to accept and even appreciate the strengths in the other person. Appreciation is vital in building a relationship. Without it, one or both have no reason to stay connected to the other person.
They begin to ask the what-if question and begin to imagine what it might be like to be in a real romantic relationship. Maybe one or both of your characters start to wonder what a kiss feel like, or perhaps experience an encounter that makes them feel accepted and connected in a new way. They begin to toy with the idea that maybe it could work. However, if our characters come together too quickly, there will not be tension.
In Susan May Warren’s book How To Write A Brilliant Romance, she says, “The pull toward each other, is just one half of sexual tension. We also need the push away from each other or the fear of loss.”
The fear of loss
An
internal obstacle causes the fear of loss. The internal wounds of one or both
characters may lead them to believe the risk is too high. The fear of losing
the other person if their most guarded internal wound is exposed. One character
may summon the courage to ask what the other person fears. Or even more
powerful to risk rejection and ask them to stay.
The
internal wound cannot remain a secret from the other person if their
relationship is to be realized. Each character must feel their love interest
will accept the broken parts of them and all. They will be loved for who they
are and will be there for them in times of hardship. Only then can they become
more intimate with each other, both physically and emotionally, and have their
wish for the happily-ever-after become real.
If you want to dive deeper into creating emotional
tension, I’d like to suggest the following books:
Writing A Romance Novel for Dummies by Leslie Wainger
How to Write a Brilliant Romance by Susan May warren
The Story Equation by Susan May Warren
The Writers Journey by Christopher Vogler
The Virgin’s Promise by Kim Hudson
The Emotional Craft of Fiction by Donald Mass
Troubleshooting Your Novel by Steven James
Rose Gardner’s writing
journey has come in two phases. The first was focused on contemporary category
romance. After a break, she returned to writing contemporary heartwarming
stories about love, hope, healing and the power of forgiveness. During the
first phase of her writing she was a finalist in thirteen contests and won her
category in seven including a 2007 RWA Golden Heart finalist in the Long
Contemporary Category, and 2nd runner up in the Harlequin Super Romance
Conflict of Interest Contest in 2008. More recently she won 1st place in the Blue Seal Award for General/ Contemporary/
Romance Novels at OHCWC 2017.
Writers Chat,
hosted by Jean Wise, Johnnie Alexander, and Bethany Jett, is the show where we
talk about all things writing, by writers and for writers!
“Because talking about writing is more fun than actually doing it.”
Writers Chat Book
Review
In
this episode, Johnnie Alexander, Melissa Stroh, and Norma Poore join together
to review Cheryl St. John’s book, Writing
with Emotion, Tension, & Conflict: Techniques for Crafting an Expressive
and Compelling Novel. This book is jammed full of tips, techniques, and
exercises to add emotion and depth to your novel. Some of the exercises call
for watching movies as research. Who knew? So, if you’re in need of some fresh
research ideas on emotion, tension, and conflict for your fiction, then this is
the episode for you.
In this episode, Stephanie gives us her
insights in to the world of self-publishing. She is the author of the
award-winning, best-selling book, The
Giving Challenge. Stephanie shares with us practical tips, from her insider
view, as well as what to expect when embarking on the road to
self-publication.
Watch the October 22nd replay.
JOIN US!
Writers Chat
is hosted live each Tuesday for an hour starting at 10 AM CT / 11 AM ET on
Zoom. Here’s the permanent
Zoom room link.
Participants
mute their audio and video during the filming then we open up the room for
anyone who wishes to participate with our guests. The “After Party” is
fifteen-minutes of off-the-record sharing and conversation.
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Group.
Suspense is what keeps readers turning
the page but writing a story without it can leave them feeling jilted. Your plot must be realistic and gripping and your
characters well developed and relatable.
When writing a suspenseful scene, the
description of your setting should add to the intensity and danger of the
action taking place. Develop scenes in a way that your readers get a feel for
the character’s fears and anxieties.
Choose your words wisely. It’s not the
length of your descriptive words that make
a scene suspenseful. It’s in the power of
the words used. Here are some examples of different scenarios and questions
readers might ask:
Light from a single lamppost was absorbed by the thick haze hovering over the park, causing inky darkness along the path. An eerie silence sucked the breath from her lungs. Hair prickled and her palms grew sweaty. Terror twisted knots in the pit of her stomach.
Why was she in the park after dark? Was she being followed? Had she escaped an attacker and didn’t know which way to go? Did the anonymous call give orders to come alone or her child would die?
Angry voices echoed from the depths of the abandoned corridor. A door slammed. Someone screamed, metal clanged, and a distant thud brought an abrupt silence — heavy footsteps, then the jarring sound of a chainsaw.
Who was arguing? Who was hiding in the shadows listening? How many people were behind that closed door? What caused the thud? Had a body dropped to the floor? A chainsaw inside the building? Why?
The crumpled note drifted to the floor like a feather, but its message stood out like neon lights. You’re Next.
What happened and why had she received a threatening note? Was someone watching her? Would she call the police? Was there anyone she could trust?
I’m sure you can imagine other scenes, and you have already written them into your
manuscript. Which word choices did the best job of creating the scene and
presenting the tension needed?
In the above scenarios, most readers
would have an idea of what’s going on, but it’s hard to avoid the questions
that pop into their minds while the action’s taking place. At the same time,
you’re allowing readers to experience the building tension as they grow
concerned for the safety of the characters they’ve connected with and care about.
Suspense
can be built slowly by allowing it to offer a sense of foreboding or the author
can jump right into action like the scenes above. Regardless of the pace, your
story will grow more intense as imminent danger approaches, and you’ll deliver a quality suspense scene
your readers can devour.
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.
Someone told me once there wasn’t conflict in romance novels. Boy meets girl. Boy gets girl. End of story.
I don’t think they had read a romance since conflict is a primary element in all fiction.
It is what keeps readers turning the pages and can sometimes be confused with plot.
Leslie J. Wainger says In Writing A Romance Novel for Dummies, “A strong romance plot put the hero and heroine together early on and, no matter how much difficulty they may be having connecting emotionally, the plot physically separates them as infrequently as possible. Close proximity allows the character an opportunity to externalize their internal, emotional conflicts.” She goes on to say, “Just as your plot offers the context for the romance to play out, the romance and the conflict that complicates it should drive the plot forward, creating an inseparable whole.”
Both external and internal conflicts are important in romances. External happens in the world around your character. Internal happens within the character’s thoughts and emotions. Romance novels, by their nature, are emotional stories and rely heavier on internal conflicts than other types of fiction. However romantic suspense may rely heavier on external conflict than a sweet romance.
William Noble says in his book Conflict, Action & Suspense “Conflict means drama.” He goes on the say “There are different types of conflict…it can be subtle as well as overt, or threatening as well as comedic. For a good story to emerge, we must know who or what is pitted against whom or what, and we must understand the consequences.”
What makes a good conflict? Unfortunately, there isn’t one answer. Everything depends on the type of story you are writing and the emotional makeup of your characters.
One piece of advice I’ve heard many times is if your conflict can be resolved by a conversation, you don’t have a strong enough conflict to build a story around. I think that statement is true to a point. Your characters may have deep internal conflicts that prevent them from engaging in that conversation. On the flip side, if you throw every possible complication and conflict you can think of into your story, you risk losing or confusing your reader.
A writer must master the elements of conflict to write a compelling story. It is important to be intentional in defining both the internal and external conflicts.
There are a number of books written about conflict and crafting novels besides the ones I have referenced above.
Here are a few titles from my writing resource shelf:
Goal, Motivation & Conflict by Debra Dixon Elements of Fiction Writing – Conflict and Suspense by James Scott Bell The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing by Evan Marshall Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass
What are your favorite writing resources?
Award winning writer, M. Rose Gardner has written for many years. Her journey toward publication has come in two phases. Her first phase was focused on long contemporary category romance. During the early years, she was a finalist in thirteen contests and won her category in seven, was a 2007 RWA Golden Heart finalist in the Long Contemporary Category, and 2nd runner up in the 2008 Harlequin Super Romance Conflict of Interest Contest. She took a break from writing to become a grandma to beautiful granddaughters and say good-bye to her son, who lost his twenty-year battle with cancer, and her husband after a long battle with dementia. After a period of healing, she returned to writing with a renewed focus on clean, contemporary heartwarming stories about love, hope, healing and the power of forgiveness. She is extremely proud to have won 1st place in the Blue Seal Award for General/ Contemporary/ Romance Novels at OHCWC 2017; 3rd place in the Blue Seal Award for Romance Novels at OHCWC 2018 and became a finalist in the 2018 ACFW VA Crown Award.
Find out more about her at www.mrosegardner.com
Facebook at https://facebook.com/MRoseGardner/
Twitter https://twitter.com/MaryGardner6
Instagram https://instagram.com/mrosegardner/
LinedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/m-rose-gardner-600b1740/
Have you ridden a roller coaster and felt the exhilaration or fear of being tossed about while your feet dangled in the air? If so, then you’ve experienced some emotional elements beneficial to writing suspense. Readers don’t physically step into a metal seat and strap themselves in when selecting a suspense novel, but they still expect an adventure in which their emotions become attached to the heroine and the struggle she’s facing.
The opening sentence must capture the attention of your audience, but that’s not all. The story must continue to build with conflict and suspense, teasing your reader’s senses and emotions, and keep them wondering what will happen next.
Raise the stakes. Put your character in a situation where danger lurks and the threat of death hangs in the balance. How will your character handle imminent danger or death?
Allow your audience to feel your character’s uncertainty and fear.
Her car breaks down on a deserted road.
Imagine the bone-chilling emotion that grips her when a man’s silouette it appears across her window.
What about the horror of hanging on a ledge, fingers slipping, muscles cramping, and all hope of survival fading? Will she plummet to her death on the rocks below? Is certain death her only option or will the hero find her in time to save her?
As Lisa Betz stated in her 2018 December article for Almost an Author, “You must add tension by stretching the moment.”
Long moments of intensity builds readers’ emotions and sets their desire to keep turning the page.
Well-written suspense secures the audience’s attention and keeps them on the edge of their seats.
Unresolved tension keeps readers intrigued.
James Scott Bell states in his book Conflict & Suspense that there is more than one type of death that can happen in our novels.
Physicaldeath. Make sure your heroine wins in her conflict if she is going to die. Dragging your characters through a quagmire of near-death experiences may pique the reader’s emotions more than physical death. Some readers feel cheated when the main character dies. Physical death is not a requirement for mysteries, suspense, and thrillers. Sometimes other types of death are more frightening.
Professionaldeath. Your heroine may fail the test for her promised promotion and is fired instead. She feels all her experience is worthless. There must be something that could make or break your character in her line of work.
Psychological death. This type of death stirs an array of emotions for your audience since human behavior can be so irrational one can never assume what might happen.
If you successfully take your readers on an emotional journey all the way through to the last page, most likely they’ll share the experience with other potential readers long after they’ve put the book down.
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.
Tension is the unresolved conflict in a story that keeps a reader turning pages. All scenes need tension, from edge-of-your-seat action sequences to gentle romantic encounters. How can a writer increase tension in her scenes, especially in those without life-or-death consequences? By stretching key moments.
Slow-motion
Consider what happens when a movie suddenly switches to slow-motion. A few heartbeats of action may be stretched into agonizing minutes, forcing the audience to wait, tense with anticipation, while things slowly crawl toward a resolution. Will he catch the ball? Will she walk out the door? Will they defuse the bomb in time?
A writer can use the same concept to slow the pace by stretching the moment. How? By padding strategic moments in scenes with a few additional details that force the reader to wait just a little longer to find out what happens. How long can you stretch things? It depends on the scene. Typically the more tension already present, the more the reader is hooked, and the longer a writer can stretch out the scene.
Where to consider stretching the moment
Scenes of exterior tension
When dealing with action scenes, look for places where the scene moves rapidly from stimulus to payoff. For example, “Sarah heard a key in the lock” is a stimulus. Something new is happening. It could be good or bad, longed-for or dreaded. Whatever the situation, the stimulus of hearing of the key will lead to a payoff of some kind. Someone is about to enter the scene and do or say something that will be the payoff.
If whatever is about to happen next is postponed by a few lines it will serve to increase the tension. Compare the two examples below:
Sarah heard the key in the lock. Liam threw open the door. “Thought you could hide from me, did you?”
Sarah heard the key in the lock. Could it be Pat? Did Pat still have the spare key? But wouldn’t he be at work now? She held her breath as the lock clicked. The door jerked open and Liam strode into the room. He looked down at her with a smug smile. “Thought you could hide from me, did you?”
Scenes of interior tension
Emotional tension can be stretched as well. Look for places where a discovery or realization (stimulus) leads to a strong emotional response and stretch the moment by inserting details or inner dialogue. For example, compare the shorter and longer versions below:
Aaron saw the note on the kitchen table. “I’ve gone for a walk.” A lump of fear settled in his stomach as he grabbed his jacket and raced outside.
Aaron saw the note on the kitchen table. Large letters written with red crayon in his little brother’s distinctive shaky scrawl. “I’ve gone for a walk.” Please no. Not today. The ground was a slippery mess with all the rain and the stream would be racing. If Jonny slipped… A lump of fear settled in his stomach as he grabbed his jacket and raced outside.
Your Turn
Choose a scene and look for moments where the stimulus is followed by an immediate payoff or response. Stretch the tension by inserting two or three sentences between them.
[bctt tweet=”By adding little snippets at strategic spots, you can increase the tension in any scene. #writetips #writers” username=””]
Lisa E. Betz believes that everyone has a story to tell the world. She loves to encourage fellow writers to be intentional about their craft and courageous in sharing their words with others. Lisa shares her words through dramas, Bible studies, historical mysteries, and her blog about intentional living. You can find her on Facebook LisaEBetzWriter and Twitter @LisaEBetz
Authors begin a new story by creating and building their characters—the hero, heroine, and villain, but shouldn’t we also consider the setting as a character? Furthermore, can the author use it to create suspense? How? Here’s what I’ve learned recently on this subject.
Setting is where your story resides. Could be a town, city, castle, beach, office, etc., and should be looked at in the same way as we do characters by using the senses and physical traits. We want to draw our readers in by transporting them to another world. The character of the Overlook Hotel in The Shining created suspense and haunted the reader. Middle Earth in the Lord of the Rings did the same. We want to learn more about the surroundings as it keeps us on the edge of our seats, turning the pages.
What can we use to formulate suspense in our settings?
Five senses – sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. The creaking of the stairs in a haunted mansion or the howling wind echoing in the corridor gives the reader goose bumps. How about the taste of coffee in our character’s favorite café or the smell of mildew in an old estate? The touch of a sharp knife as the killer holds it against his victim’s throat or the character catching a glimpse of the eerie castle blanketed in fog. The senses are powerful and ushers the reader into the story, capturing their attention.
Nature – Does the snow sparkle in the moonlight of the quaint small town or the fireflies flicker on a warm summer night in the campground? A slithering snake or an owl hooting in the middle of the night can create suspense in our settings.
Weather – It can form tension, but don’t overdo it. Picture how a stormy night in an eerie town could add angst to your character. Also, the weather can help solve the crime. Were there footprints in the mud outside the castle’s window or a trail in the snow leading away from it?
Parts of speech – Similes and metaphors are a great way to help describe your locale and enhance the suspense, but use them sparingly.
Powerful words – Pick the right words when describing the setting. Use strong verbs and nouns. The rain pelted or the trees swayed.
In the following scene, I used sensory plus a simile to produce tension and suspense:
The wrought iron gate creaked open, revealing the brick mansion in the distance. Ominous twin turrets towered at opposite ends while cypress trees lined the lane like sentinels protecting the property from outside forces.
Setting is a powerful character that can be used to create suspense and establish the mood the writer is trying to portray. Choosing the right one is the key and we must go beyond the obvious to describe it. When we do our settings will come alive and stay with the reader long after the story is finished.
Darlene L. Turner writes romantic suspense and won the 2017 Genesis award in the Romantic suspense category and was a 2018 finalist. She was a finalist in the 2017 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense contest and won in 2016 (Inspirational Unpublished). She’s represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. Visit Darlene at darlenelturner.com where she believes there’s suspense beyond borders.
Every writer has a desire to learn the craft, screenwriters more so. However, their journey is complicated by the essence of their craft. Movies are visual anomalies and it’s a screenwriter’s job to break them down into its subparts in words.
Characters
Setting
Conflict
Plot
Theme
In a clear and visual way that creates a complete story on the screen. The glue that holds it all together is the center subpart: conflict. Author, speaker and screenwriter Donald Miller notes,
“Far from being a bad thing, conflict in story is a necessity.”
When I was in college and wanted to be a writer, my main problem was I had no ideas for a story, just knowledge about how to write it. Then, the unthinkable happened, always in a severe car accident that left me partially paralyzed.
If you follow the disability column here on Almost an Author, you’ve read about my struggles of writing with a disability. My disability has become the conflict in my own story.
My own body has worked against me for over 20 years now. What I learned so far is that my conflict, my disability, isn’t actually against me—the friction is actually helping me grow as a person and writer.
As hard as it is for some to accept in this day and age, the truth is friction fuels life is as much as conflict fuels our stories in our writing. Miller continues,
“There is no character development without conflict. So when we choose our ambitions, they should be difficult and we should anticipate and even welcome conflict.”
Conflict?
To better understand conflict, let’s look at the definition: A battle, or struggle, especially a prolonged struggle; strife; antagonism or opposition, friction. In our stories it’s our protagonist’s opposition. This opposition or complement may come in one of various forms.
External – The most obvious and visual to an audience, this form of conflict is a physical struggle against the protagonist.
Internal – Not always obvious, but the most important type of conflict because it often reveals our protagonist’s goal and flaws, it also reveals our character growth throughout our story. In film this type of conflict can be the hardest to show instead of tell.
Interactional – This type of conflict is more of a relational conflict, how our protagonist deals with other personalities (both different and similar).
Environmental – While similar to external, this conflict is more of a location or setting-fueled conflict, think a “fish out of water” story.
Environmental conflict is everywhere in life, we see it in Mother Nature; we experience it when we travel and even within our own bodies when they don’t agree with Mother Nature. As fall approaches, my allergies are already beginning to act up. Unfortunately I can’t even see the little particles that do war with my body—but somewhere there are hidden triggers waiting to set me off.
Background?
Even if conflict isn’t obvious in our stories (which it should be), there should always be something motivating our protagonist to grow, be better, do better or get stronger. Conflict is often personified in the form of the antagonist in our story, screenplay or novel.
Award-winning author and speaker Steven James once shared,
“All stories involve some sort of pursuit, but how many chapters or acts or pages that takes depends more on the obstacles that the characters encounter and their subsequent choices.”[1]
In some of the best movies, conflict is multilayered and fueled by each of the conflict types I mentioned earlier and they shape each of the sub parts I mentioned at the beginning. Here are a few examples that come to mind.
The Breakfast Club
Forrest Gump
Slum Dog Millionaire
Rocky
The Rocky franchise is a classic example. We see our hero struggle with his body, his environment, his ego and his relationship with his wife; each causing Balboa to grow through friction.
Martin Johnson survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Truamatic brain injury which left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to local men’s ministries he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in a Georgia and connects with readers at Spiritual Perspectives of Da Single Guy and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.
Once upon a time writers actually left their characters hanging from cliffs. In the early days of movies, when theaters ran serialized episodes of a story, a cliffhanger ending was a good way to ensure viewers would make the effort to come back next week. The same was true for serialized novels run in newspapers and magazines. Writers intentionally left characters hanging (not necessarily from a cliff) to entice readers to purchase the next installment.
Today’s readers and moviegoers may roll their eyes at Pauline hanging by her fingertips from a cliff, but the cliffhanger technique is still very much in use. If we change the definition of cliffhanger from:
a situation of imminent disaster usually occurring at the end of an episode of a serialized film
to the broader concept of:
a moment of unresolved danger or conflict
then a cliffhanger can happen anywhere a writer needs to crank up the tension. The key here is unresolved. Something is left hanging.
Consider the commercial breaks in a typical detective show. When do the breaks happen? Just after some new evidence is discovered that threatens to take the investigation in a whole new direction. Viewers are left hanging during the commercial, wondering what the hero will do with the new information.
In a similar vein, writers use the cliffhanger technique at the end of a chapter, scene, or beat to keep readers turning pages.
How to use the unresolved tension of a cliffhanger to increase suspense in your manuscript
End a scene in the middle of danger. The tried and true cliffhanger ending—a bad thing has happened and the character is left some kind of danger at the end of a scene. You might switch to a different set of characters in the next scene and leave the poor hero hanging for a scene or two, or you might continue the action in the next scene. Either way, the reader must keep reading to find out how the situation is resolved.
End a scene by hinting that a bad thing is about to happen. The doorknob turns… A shadowy figure appears in the window… The heroine hears the voice she’s been dreading for pages… This is similar to number one, except the danger is only implied, leaving the reader to imagine all sorts of horrible things that are about to ensue.
End a scene by hinting that a bad thing might be about to happen. A subtler variation of number two. Instead of the heroine hearing a voice she recognizes and dreads, what if she hears a voice she doesn’t recognize? Is it a friend or a foe? The reader doesn’t know until they read on.
End a scene on an ambiguous note. Instead of making it clear exactly what happened and how that affects the main character, try leaving things a little less clear. Sometimes a writer can accomplish this simply by backing up a few sentences. Instead of ending the scene with the sleuth deciding she needs to question the shop clerk, back up a few sentences and end with the information that could be interpreted to mean the clerk was guilty.
The cliffhanger technique isn’t just for the end of chapters or episodes, however. You can use subtle touches of cliffhanger anywhere in your story.
End a conversation with a tantalizing bit of information. Imagine the sleuth is talking with an informant who tells him about a new clue that’s come to light. But instead of giving all the details right away, the informant says, “I found something in the wall of the garage. You’d better come take a look.” The sleuth will naturally ask for details, but the if informant refuses to give them, both sleuth and reader will be dying to find out what’s been unearthed. Ratchet up the tension further by forcing the sleuth to finish his current task before he can go take a look.
Leave a character in a high emotional state. Tension is not only created by external danger. Sometimes the conflict is within a character. Examples: The hero gets word his wife has cancer while in the middle of a meeting, or the heroine has an argument with her fiancé but has to break it off to interview a key suspect. These bits of unresolved life issues can add tension even when they have nothing to do with the main plot.
Bottom line: Look for places in your story where you can leave a situation unresolved, however briefly. Closure is important at the end of story, but unresolved tension is what keeps the reader turning page after page to get there.
Lisa E. Betz believes that everyone has a story to tell the world. She loves to encourage fellow writers to be intentional about their craft and courageous in sharing their words with others. Lisa shares her words through dramas, Bible studies, historical mysteries, and her blog about intentional living. You can find her on Facebook LisaEBetzWriter and Twitter @LisaEBetz
When it comes to picking up the phone, I always procrastinate as long as possible. It might take me a month to get around to calling for a haircut appointment or a wellness checkup. I cannot explain why I hate phone calls. It is simply part of who I am.
Unfortunately, no matter how much I wish I could avoid them, making phone calls is part of modern life. I will never enjoy it, but I do it when I have to.
Do your characters have something they dislike but can’t avoid?
Well-rounded characters need weaknesses as well as strengths. Giving them a specific task or two they detest will add depth, especially if that task is something they cannot avoid.
For example, what if a secretary hated making phone calls? Or filing papers? She couldn’t admit such a thing to her boss, could she? But her secret dislike has the potential to cause complications. She might procrastinate the filing until papers pile up and important documents get lost. She might put off phone calls until the last moment, adding stress to her life and creating emergencies that wouldn’t have occurred if she’d made the call when her boss first requested the information.
Can you see how a detested task will both ratchet up the tension and make your characters more interesting?
Make it authentic: The key is to find something in their temperament or background that gives a ring of authenticity to their particular dislikes. In my case, avoiding the telephone is a common attribute of introverts. Any character with an introverted temperament could believably suffer from the same “the-telephone-is-the-instrument-of-the-devil” mentality.
Make it plausible: Readers might wonder why the introverted character who hates phone calls is working as a secretary to begin with. So the character needs not only a chore to hate, but also a valid reason for not avoiding it. It may be the secretary is a whiz at administrative tasks, so phone calls are a necessary evil in a job she otherwise enjoys. Or maybe her dread of phone calls makes her hate her job, but expectations or necessity have forced her into a career as a secretary.
Same dislike, two very different stories.
What story are you trying to tell? How can an onerous task enhance both your plot and your character?
[bctt tweet=”Give your character something to hate. Your readers will love it. #writing ” username=””]
