Creating Suspense in a Fiction Novel
A good suspense novel keeps the reader guessing and makes for a good and thrilling story. Creating suspense in a fictional novel, readers want scenarios that are unorthodox and that gear them towards feelings of anxiety, uncertainty, perplexity and eagerness. This keeps the reader interested and excited to see what happens next. Below are the top tips suggested by HG Nadel for creating suspense in a fiction novel.
Develop a likable and relatable protagonist and an adversary. Give readers insight into the minds of the characters, and scenarios that involve the characters. This helps to build suspense in the novel and adds a dramatic twist to the story. For example, In the Archie Comics, written by Vic Bloom, male readers worldwide can relate to the central character, Archie, because Archie has two females interested in him. The twist is that Archie is caught in a love triangle and has to choose between Betty and Veronica. Both girls are likable, making it difficult for Archie to decide which one he should have a serious relationship with.
Suspense involves traits such as deceit, lust, greed and charm. Develop your characters with an open mind and do not be afraid to go to extremes.
Create drama for the protagonist. A suspense story without problems or crisis is rather boring and predictable. The writer should create scenes of mischief and uncertainty for the main character that leaves readers in a bind. For example, the main character has a sibling who is revealed to be a hired assassin. This leads readers to ask questions such as what will happen next. This excites the reader, leaving them eager to read more.
Think outside the box. Be creative, be imaginative and try to avoid being cliché. The writer should aim to create settings that may be new to the minds of the readers influencing them to think of solutions and causing them to ponder how the story will end.
Keep readers intrigued by including cliffhangers. Cliffhangers create all types of emotions for the reader from frustration to eagerness to excitement. Leave readers anticipating a twist at the end of each chapter. This keeps them immersed in the plot and encourages them to move on to the next chapter.
Use teasers to build suspense. Never unfold the full story, but always have a climax that unravels the plot.
HG Nadel is an American producer born in France. Nadel has written numerous screenplays, but her first love is novel writing. She is known as the author of Eternal love story. This is the kind of story that you sink down into and read in only a handful of settings. Nadel has shared important details regarding novel writing, story writing and other literature aspects, visit here: https://hgnadel.tumblr.com/