Tag: Suspense

Change in Plans

On By Terry ConnellyIn prompt, Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

            Quite a while ago you decided to go on a trip. You asked your friends for ideas. You searched the Internet and requested brochures. Finally, after much deliberation, you settled on a destination, contacted an agent and made reservations.

            You’ve marked it on our calendar and shared the information with family and friends. You even went shopping to get needed items.

            And then something happens. Perhaps you sustain an injury or maybe a family member falls ill and needs care. Maybe the cruise is no longer offered on the dates you had chosen and the new dates don’t work with your schedule. Or, a world-wide pandemic hits and all travel screeches to a halt.

            Think of the range of emotions you’ve experienced on this journey.

            Your task is to write a story in which your character wants to go on a vacation. She follows all the usual paths before settling on the one most interesting to her. It might be fun to send her on that trip and have everything run smoothly. It might also be interesting if on the trip, some form of disaster hits. Or as in the above scenario, the problem arises before leaving.

            Readers will want to go on this exploration with your character, but not as co-tourists, but as witnesses. Not only will you use narration, but also dialogue. Through conversations with others emotions will be revealed.

            Have fun with this one.

In Peril

On By Terry ConnellyIn Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

Dangerous situations arise in books and movies with great regularity. There are several reasons, but probably the most likely is that when a character is in peril, the viewer/reader is at the end of her seat, intently hoping that all works out well in the end. Such situations increase tension, and a story without tension is flat.

A good source for discovering dangerous situations is the news. It seems as if children frequently fall in holes or drains. Drivers get trapped in cars that have been smashed in accidents. Hikers get stranded in bad weather. Whales go astray and find themselves trapped in ice.

Your task is to write an original story in which your protagonist, whether human or not, is in peril. It needs to be logical and treacherous enough that the reader will understand that it is a life or death situation. Don’t water it down. Throw in a number of complications.

Begin with the scene, be it a frozen pond, abandoned well or ice-slick highway. Describe what befalls the protagonist and how he feels. Next list an ascending list of complications that occur, taking into consideration that no rescue is as simple as it looks on television. Rescuers often need multiple interventions in order to free the individual.

Write the story, remembering to ratchet up the suspense with the addition of each complication.

Have fun with this one.

Suspense is Critical

On By Terry ConnellyIn Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

Story revolves around suspense. From the first page, there needs to be a compelling story developing. Tension. Argument. A chase of some kind. A search for something important. And possibly even a dead body, be it human or animal.

Recently I picked up a book that sounded interesting. The youngest daughter had been implicated in the murder of her father and the near death of her mother, but the boyfriend was found guilty on circumstantial evidence. Sounds compelling, right?

The problem is that the story moved too slowly. It felt as if the same thoughts and actions happened over and over. Worry about the youngest daughter moving back home. The accused being released from prison on a technicality. The oldest daughter, once a thriving mother with tremendous potential, now wallowing at home.

I kept waiting for something to happen. Some action that brought renewed fear into the protagonist’s life. A window found open. A bloody knife left in plain sight. A note or call that threatened. But none of that ever happened.

As a writer, you have an obligation to engage your readers with suspense, even if your story is not a murder mystery or thriller.

How do you do this? Your protagonist has to interact with others, animate or inanimate. This interaction brings up a strong emotional response. The character reacts, either by confronting the “thing” or by running away or by putting it out of mind. This leads to more tension as the “thing” comes back again and again to haunt the character, spurring the character into action once again.

Your job is to take something that you’ve written, that perhaps you find less than compelling, and reread, looking for spots where the story bogs down. Where there is a pronounced lag.

As you discover these places, fix them either by eliminating them altogether or by turning them into scenes with dialogue, action, tension.

This will not be easy as we often do not like to rewrite our pieces, but you must.

Good luck on this one.