Writing a suspenseful story has its rewards, but writing a good one takes thought and effort. A good story should engage the reader from the first sentence, and leave them riveted by the final one. In writing, suspense generally comes from slowing the pace of the story to heighten the tension, making the reader feel more and more uneasy as the story progresses.
A suspenseful story relies on tension to create and maintain suspense in a reader. Tension comes from the reader’s fear of the unknown, which works to keep the story moving forward. Tension is dynamic and changes throughout the story. As tension builds, it builds and builds. The tension builds in the reader’s mind, where it stays until the story’s resolution.
Suspense is like watching a good movie: it’s enjoyable and hypnotic, but easy to watch. But can it be made into art? Suspense is the element of action and suspense that pulls the viewer into the narrative. In writing, suspense creates tension — especially for readers who are predisposed to a genre (romance readers, crime fiction readers, etc.) — and uses that tension to draw the reader further into the story.
1. Create Tension
If there’s one thing modern literature has taught us, it’s that readers love a good mystery. Whether it’s a missing document, a missing person, a criminal on the run, or something else entirely, readers can’t resist the pressure of figuring out the who, what, where, and when in a mystery.
If you want suspense in your stories, particularly if you’re writing mystery, thriller or horror, you need to create a sense of tension. Tension is the “glue” that holds your readers’ attention, and it’s closely related to suspense. To create tension, you need to highlight the characters’ vulnerabilities and fears, as well as their strengths and skills.
2. Introduce the Main Character
The goal of writing a short story is to entertain your readers. The more suspense you create, the more fun you’ll have writing and the more exciting your story will be to read. To help you accomplish this goal, think about your main character’s personality and immediate surroundings.
Humans have an innate need to tell stories. For millennia, story-telling has been at the core of sharing history, knowledge, and myths. As storytelling has become more popular, storytelling as a business has become a viable industry. Today, businesses spend billions and billions of dollars each year developing vast amounts of stories. Fiction, non-fiction, corporate, educational, and promotional — all forms of storytelling have their place. Even the most mundane stories have value.
3. Establish the Location
A good location gives your readers a feel for the story and makes them forget about the distractions in their lives. Writing a Suspense Crime Novel will involve developing a certain technique for establishing the situation in the story. Your audience will need to know exactly who the characters of the story are, where they are, and what they are going to do.
Establishing the location within your story can be one of the most difficult things to accomplish. The way the setting is described and described can change the entire feel of the story.