Basketball season is over at our house. Which means one thing: We’re one sport closer to football. We love football, and the wait is killing us. But one of the things I love about football is that it’s a great metaphor for nearly everything. Like writing a suspense novel. A football game has all the elements of a great suspense novel: the players we love, an objective, a playbook on how to win the day, villains, truth tellers (called coaches) on the sidelines and deadline for “game over.” I blogged all year in 2011 about suspense, so I can’t cover all that territory today, so we’re going to touch on the one big element every suspense should have: The Big Event. Every suspense must have a Big Event that looms […]
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About Susan May Warren
Former Russian Missionary Susan May Warren is the best-selling author of more than 40 novels and novellas with Tyndale, Barbour and Steeple Hill, and Summerside. A Christy award and RITA winner, and multiple finalist for the RITA, Christy and winner of Inspirational Readers Choice contest, Susan currently has over a million books in print. A seasoned women’s events speaker and writing teacher, she is the founder of http://www.mybooktherapy.com an online community for writers, and runs a fiction editing service teaching writers how to tell a great story. Visit her online at: http://www.susanmaywarren.com.Author Archive | Susan May Warren
Conversations: The basics of writing a Suspense Novel
“How is your writing going? Do you feel ready to dive into crafting the Black Moment and Epiphany?” I asked Sally as she came to the table with a chai latte. “Not yet. I want to write a suspense into my romance.” Sally sat down and pulled out her notebook. Outside, the sun shrank the snow banks, spring in the air. “I watched Eagle Eye on FX over the weekend, and I realized how much I love suspense.” “I love suspense too,” I said. “A romantic suspense combines the fun of falling in love with that edge-of-your-seat-fear that the people we care about could get killed. “Let’s take a look at what that would mean for your story. Writing a romantic suspense means adding another story structure/plot to your novel. […]
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Fabulous Friday Fiction: Baroness hits the shelves next week!
Lilly and Rosie, daughters of an empire coming of age in the roaring twenties, can have anything they want…except freedom. Expected to marry well and to take the reins of the empire, they have their lives planned out for them. But, Lilly, Esme’s daughter longs to return home to Montana, to adventure outside the confines of New York City. And Jinx’s daughter Rosie dreams of the bright lights of the newly emerging silver screen. But following their dreams – from avant garde France, to Broadway, to the skies in the world of barnstormers and wing-walkers will take all their courage. And if they find love, will they choose freedom or happily ever after? EXCERPT: All Lilly had to do was hang on and ignore the echo of her arrogant words in her head. “I’m going to save your […]
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Quick Skills: Finding you Romance Story Arc
If you are writing a romance, it can sometimes be difficult to know exactly how to build all the pieces so that you have the right amount of tension in your story. How soon do you make them fall in love? When do you start breaking them up? How do they get back together? This problem is solved by understanding the two main story arcs of romance: The Why/Why Not, or the Why Not/Why. (These arc models apply to both a straight up romance, or just a romance thread.) Understanding the kind of story you have helps you understand how to layer in the tension and where to insert the different components of your romance. Let’s a take a look: The first structure is Why/Why Not: These are stories that […]
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