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Table of Contents Chapter Four – Cranking up the Suspense Chapter Seven – Scene, Mood, Tone, Style, Research Excerpt: Chapter One While I feel a bit guilty about it, made-up mayhem can be a lot of fun. It’s very cathartic to put your characters through trials and tribulations. And if someone annoys you, well, your villains will always need expendable characters to knock off. Fictional killing doesn’t involve you in strip searches or prison time. Like many writers, I was a reader first and I became an avid reader of suspense novels when I discovered that The Moonspinners wasn’t just a Haley Mills movie. Suspense novels come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from the big, multi-plot blockbusters to romantic suspense to small chillers. They came disguised as paranormals and science fiction, but there are certain elements that mark them as a suspense or thriller. And if you bring the question up on writers’ lists, you’ll spark a major discussion, but what most writers will agree about a suspense novel must have: PERIL. We’re talking serious peril here. It can range from characters in peril to the whole world, but there is PERIL. A TICKING CLOCK. If someone doesn’t stop the bad guy or guys by a certain time, peril happens. A BAD PERSON CAUSING THE PERIL. Suspense novels aren’t typically disaster driven, though disasters can complicate the peril. But a suspense novel will have a hero character or characters and they will be opposed by a/some really bad guy/s. To get labeled a thriller, a book should have what is sometimes called the “high concept” plot. You’ll find a lot of definitions of what high concept is, but I thought this one was particularly good:
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Made-up Mayhem: Secrets to Writing the
Suspense/Romantic Suspense Novel