For some reason this didn’t post last week – sorry for keeping you all in suspense! Last week, e talked about the Big Event in writing a suspense, and how you must have this hovering over the story as you draw closer to the climax. The reader must believe that something terrible will happen if the hero/heroine don’t save the day, otherwise, there is nothing “suspenseful” to worry about. Think of it like a football game – if the team won’t lose, there is nothing at stake. There has to be a believable threat of a disaster, or a loss. Let’s take a closer look at the Big Event. Whether the event that is/will happen is caused by an elements or a villain – needs to have four components. […]
Read the RestArchive | April, 2011
The Big Event (the key to writing a suspense pt 1)
I only had one job: get literary agent Sandra Bishop to the airport. We had spent the weekend teaching together at a private writing seminar in the middle of Minnesota, and woke up early Sunday morning with a three plus hour drive in front of us for her flight out of Duluth. I had mapquested the trip, so I knew that the journey would take us three hours, but I added an hour cushion just to be safe and declared we’d leave at 10am. We pulled out around 10:30, but since I’d allotted the time, I figured..we’re all good here. The little town we taught in had a convenience store for a coffee shop, so we hustle by for a pitiful version of coffee and then hustled […]
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