Over the past four months, we’ve been covering the basic elements of Act 1 of a Suspense. Before we take a little romance rabbit trail (for all your romantic/suspense novelists!) let’s review the basic Act 1 elements: The first act consists of the setup, or what I call: The Game: Players, the Goals, the Rules, Board/Playing field. G = Let us meet the Guys and Gals. Who are they? What makes them common/sympathetic? What makes them extraordinary? We’ll be talking in coming weeks about developing the romance of a romantic/suspense novel, also, but for now, there are a number of elements a suspense hero/heroine should have. If you took my plotting class, you’ll know I spend a lot of time on developing my characters, and making a […]
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The Big Event…examples.
Yesterday, I said I would use some Big Events from popular books and movies… I changed my mind. I think it might be easier to explain if I applied the Big Event to my own work. That way we can see if I did it correctly. So, just to summarize…the Big Event must be: Believable, Compelling, Immediate, Terrifying. I’m going to use examples from my current suspense series…The Missions Of Mercy Series … Point of No Return An American boy and a warlord’s engaged daughter have disappeared-together-in an Eastern European border country. Only one man can find them in time to prevent an international meltdown-Chet Stryker. But Chet is taken aback when he realizes the boy is the nephew of Mae Lund, Chet’s former […]
Read the RestThe Big Event…make it personal!
The last two weeks we talked about the key to creating a suspense is the big EVENT that awaits the characters – either a positive or negative event that looms at the end of the story, one they either know about or don’t, but that has the effect of raising the tension as they draw closer (or are kept from it). Think about it – if we didn’t believe there would truly be an invasion of aliens, then we would have laughed our way through Independence Day. If we didn’t believe the Russians and the Americans could wage World War 3, then we would have never had the cold war (and the Hunt For Red October). If we didn’t believe that Buttercup might not marry Wesley, that Prince Humperdinck […]
Read the RestThe Big Event: Make it Believable
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. […]
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