How to Write Suspense

By Glen C. Strathy

how to write suspense

The first thing you must know about how to write suspense is that the word "suspense" has two meanings for writers. On the one hand, suspense is a literary technique for engaging readers that can be used in a wide variety of genres. Any story that makes and keeps the reader curious and anxious to find out what will happen next (or in the end) involves suspense. More precisely, a story involves suspense when the reader sees that a threat is approaching but the main character does not. This makes the reader worried about what will happen when the threat arrives and whether the main character will cope.

But suspense is also a popular genre in itself with distinct traits. So, assuming you're interested in writing suspense, let's take a look at the traits that are key to this genre.

The Essential Qualities of Suspense Stories

Generally speaking, a suspense story presents an innocent character (usually but not necessarily female) who is being stalked by a villain -- or perhaps she is walking into a trap the villain is setting for her. The reader can see the trap being set, but the main character cannot, until the crisis where the innocent character realizes what is going on and the trap is sprung. This leads to a threatening confrontation which the main character barely manages to escape.

Naturally, the first step in learning how to write suspense is to familiarize yourself with the key traits of the genre...

Distinguishing Suspense from Mystery and Thriller

assassinAn assassin lies in wait.

Like mystery, suspense offers a puzzle to solve. However, mystery is about figuring out who committed a crime and how they did it. In suspense, the puzzle concerns questions like, "What trap is being set for the victim? Who is setting it? And will the potential victim escape?" Moreover, the reader may be ahead of the main character in deducing some of the answers.

Suspense resembles thriller in that they both generally include violent confrontation. However, suspense is about the build-up toward the confrontation, whereas thrillers are about the confrontation itself (or perhaps an escalating series of confrontations).

To illustrate the difference between these genres, consider this example...

Imagine a woman comes home from work. Unknown to her, an assassin is hiding in her closet with the intent to murder her.

In a thriller novel, when the woman comes home, the assassin will immediately jump out of the closet and the story will be all about the fight between them.

In a mystery novel, someone else will visit the woman's home and discover her body. The story will be about figuring out who killed the woman and perhaps how.

However, in a suspense novel, the reader will know the assassin is in the closet. The reader will follow the woman for a long time as she goes through her ordinary, daily activities. There may be some clues that something is wrong, but the woman is slow to realize the danger lurking in her home. The reader will be waiting to see what happens when the woman finally opens the closet and the confrontation with the assassin occurs. The story is all about the build-up of anxiety as the confrontation draws closer.

Of course, sometimes a suspense novel will borrow elements from thriller, mystery, or some other genre such as horror or psychological suspense. But the essence of suspense lies in watching the trap being laid.

Heroes, Villains, and Point-of-View in Suspense

Main Characters are Generally Potential Victims or White Knights.

To write suspense, you must create a potential victim for whom the reader feels empathy. In many suspense stories, the potential victim is also the main character. That is, the reader sees the story from the point-of-view of the potential victim who is innocently going about her life while the villain slowly stalks her or prepares a trap for her. The more the reader can relate to the main character and see her as someone who does not deserve to be victimized by the approaching threat, the stronger reader's emotional engagement with the story will be.

In other suspense stories, the main character is a police officer who is trying to protect the potential victim from the threat that is approaching. In those stories, anything you can do to give the police officer a strong, personal motivation to protect the potential victim will help increase the reader's empathy with the police officer and emotional engagement with the story. It also helps if the police officer feels empathy toward the potential victim and sees the potential victim as an innocent person who deserves protection.

In either case, the potential victim should be someone who doesn't deserve to become a victim. This may seem obvious, but if you make your potential victim a nasty person who the reader feels deserves whatever nightmare the villain wants to inflict on them, the reader has less reason to care and story doesn't work.

Though you may feel it is sexist, one reason most potential victims in suspense are female is that most people see women as more likely to be innocent victims of violence than deserving victims -- and therefore women are more deserving of protection. Women are also seen as less able to defend themselves from violence, so the reader will be more concerned for a woman who is being stalked by someone intent on attacking her.

How to Write Suspense Villains

A unique trait of suspense novels is that they are frequently written from the point of view of both the main character and the villain. The narrative mode will often be omniscient, putting the reader in the position of a third party observing the main character and villain, rather than being the main character. This narrative mode distances the reader from the main character, letting the reader see her more objectively.

Dramatic irony is an important feature in suspense stories. By having access to the villain's perspective, the readers learn things that the main character does not. This increases the readers' anxiety as they can see the main character is walking into the trap. The readers hope the main character will realize what's going on before it's too late.

Note that, while the story is being told partly from the villain's point-of-view, the identity of the villain is concealed from the reader until the climax.

Why is this so? For much of time in a suspense novel, the potential victim will be going about her daily business. If she is not the main character, she may be , oblivious to the the looming threat. If she is the main character, she may be puzzled by events, but slow to realize what is going on. The danger is that the reader might also be oblivious to the threat or not grasp its seriousness.

Allowing the readers to see into the villain's mind and observe some of the villain's actions shows them the threat is serious, real, and close. It makes the readers fearful for the potential victim. Concealing the villain's identity ramps up the anxiety even further as the readers worry and speculate about who this person is.

As a writer, you must toy with the readers when writing from the villain's perspective. On the one hand, you want to drop in enough details to make the villain and the threat feel tangible and immanent. On the other hand, you must conceal information so that the readers can't identify the villain. The readers may suspect several people of being the villain, but it is more fun if they don't know for certain.

Note that villains in suspense novels tend to be psychopaths, sociopaths, delusional, or suffering from some other form of mental illness. The villain should have a strong reason for pursuing the potential victim, one that makes sense to them. But because the reader is looking at the villain objectively, the reader can see that the villain's motivation is neither rational nor just. If the villain's motive is revenge, it is not because the potential victim did something that genuinely deserves punishment (again, the potential victim needs to be innocent).

One thing the villain is not, however, is supernatural. This is where suspense differs from horror. Horror is about a supernatural threat. Villains in suspense may seem to be "monsters," but they are human monsters.

How to Write Suspense Settings

Suspense novels are generally set in present day, non-exotic locations. By "non-exotic," I mean they feel familiar to the reader. It should feel like part of the real world as the typical reader knows it. The effect is to generate anxiety in the reader by making them feel that the world they consider safe can in fact be threatening.

Setting a suspense story in a familiar world means you don't have to spend as much time world-building as you would with a historical, futuristic, or fantasy setting. This keeps the focus of the story on the potential victim and the growing threat to her.

You can have your potential victim be somewhat isolated. Perhaps send her to a cabin in the woods, a farmhouse, or a community where she feels unwelcome. The effect will be to make her seem more vulnerable.

Either way, you will include little details to make the setting feel more foreboding than the real world typically does. You want to create an atmosphere that implies the setting is not safe. The purpose is to make the reader, if not the potential victim, feel disturbed, uncomfortable, and fearful.

How to Write Suspense Plots

The best, most universal model of story structure is the W-plot, which appears below:

The W-Plot Model of Story Structure

The drivers in the W-plot are the major turning points in the story, and the acts cover the journey from one driver to the next. You'll notice that the W-plot is a 4-act model with each act having a different focus.

So let's look at how the W-plot applies specifically to the challenge of how to write suspense.

The Initial Driver -- The Threat Arises

The initial driver is the event that causes the rest of the story to happen.

In a suspense story, the initial driver is usually the first appearance of the threat in the potential victim's life. It is the event that makes the villain decide (perhaps years later) to pursue the potential victim. Sometimes, this event happens in the present, but it may also happen in the past. The potential victim may have been quite young at the time the inital driver happened.

If the initial driver happens in the past, may be presented in the form of a prologue so that the first chapter of the novel can introduce the main character in the present. Alternatively, the initial driver may be revealed later on in a flashback or the main character may discover what happened through some other means.

The Second Driver -- The Threat Deepens

The first act of the suspense story will generally introduce the potential victim and the main character (if they are separate) in the present reality, establish the setting, etc.

The second driver is the moment when the threat rears its head again, or perhaps becomes more tangible. It is the moment when things take a serious turn. The nightmare is now intruding into the main character's life once more.

The Third Driver -- The Point of No Return

In the second act, the main character is attempting to solve the puzzle, to figure out what the threat is and who is behind it. But the threat may still feel a little intangible. Maybe it will turn out not to be real?

However, this act ends with the third driver -- an event in which something happens that shows the threat is very real and cannot be ignored. The main character will have to solve the puzzle.

The Fourth Driver -- The Crisis

The third act will build to the moment when the main character realizes who the villain is and solves the puzzle just as the trap is sprung.

The moment of revelation and confrontation with the villain (which the potential victim barely escapes) is the fourth or crisis driver.

The Final Driver -- The Resolution

Chase sceneInevitably, a suspense story will feature a chase scene in the final act.

Following the crisis, the potential victim must flee the villain. This leads to a chase scene (the subject of the fourth act). The main character or potential victim is physically in danger if the villain catches them, so they must use their cunning to turn the tables on the villain

The final driver is the ultimate confrontation that leads to the defeat of the villain and the restoration of safety for the potential victim.

Of course, there are many small variations on the above pattern, but when you're learning how to write suspense stories, it's usually best to use a proven model before you start createing your own variations. Fortunately, there is no limit to the number of different stories that can be written in accord with the model.

Secret #1 of How to Write Suspense Plots: Conceal the drivers and other plot points.

Often what drives a suspense plot is the actions of the villain. That is, the drivers will tend to be things the villain does. The acts that take place between the drivers are largely about other characters reacting to what the villain has just done.

A way to build the puzzle regarding what is going on is to conceal the drivers and perhaps other events as well. In other words, the reader will see the results of the villain's actions, but will not see the villain actually doing them. The main character is then left to puzzle over why each strange thing happened, who is behind it, and what significance it has.

Secret #2 of How to Write Suspense Plots: Use a False Crisis

Another technique that can help you write suspense plots with flair is to use a false crisis. Here's how this technique works...

At the crisis, you reveal who the villain is and his evil intent. Maybe there's a chase, at the end of which The main character seems to defeat the villain. The battle seems to be won.

But this is an illusion that merely lulls the main character into a false sense of security.

After the main character has had a chance to reflect... or perhaps after some incongruous evidence appears... the main character realizes that the villain wasn't actually defeated... or perhaps the villain she defeated wasn't actually the real villain, and the real villain is still at large. His plan is still in motion, and he is closing in on the potential victim.

Once the main character has this revelation, there may be a second chase leading to the ultimate confrontation with the real villain, and the actual salvation of the potential victim.

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