Yesterday I talked about building that essential element of sacrifice into the emotional journey of your suspense novel. It thought it would help to show some of the ways I’ve built this into my novels: Here’s how I’ve used sacrifice: In Taming Rafe, Rafe sacrifices his trophies and everything he’s earned. Rafe (Taming Rafe) would never turn his back on bull riding and his accomplishments. Not when it is the only thing he believes gives him value. Unless he believes that it doesn’t matter how much he’s worked for, it’s all gone. In that moment, he might even despise his past, and all that he worked for that netted him nothing. So, in a scene that exemplifies this, Rafe burns everything he’s worked so hard for. In Finding Stefanie, […]
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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
The Great Sacrifice – the secret to a powerful emotional journey
A great suspense has a sacrifice that touches our heart. It does’t have to be a physical death – it can be a death of pride, or hope, or a dream. But a sacrificial moment reveals how your character has changed during the journey, and completes their transformation into a hero. What is that Sacrifice? A sacrifice is thing your character can’t surrender/do at the beginning he can do at the end. The Sacrificial Act is found by asking: What would your character do, or never surrender? And then follow up with the question: What would make him do/surrender it? You must put this scene into your plot. You know your character well enough by now to understand what he’d never do. The scene that must be included in your […]
Read the RestBut I’m not a hero, am I? Helping your hero discover his heroic side!
A great story has a great hero – someone who discovers they are hero along that way. Acts of Heroism are those character-change actions that take your character from an everyday Joe to a Hero. It’s not the grand gestures, the great sacrifices…Acts of Heroism are the everyday acts of our character that push him beyond himself. Ideally in a story, every choice your character makes and every step beyond his comfort zone that he or she takes, is going to push your character farther and farther from the person he starts as, until finally he becomes a full- fledged hero. Let’s go back to two of my favorite movies – Eagle Eye and Cellular Eagle Eye is the story of an everyday guy faced with the accusation that he’s […]
Read the RestLet the fight begin! How to use stakes and motivations to build a powerful story!
Last week we talked about how to discover Stakes and Motivations. But, how do you use them to create a powerful story? Let the Fight Begin! One of my favorite movies for continually raising stakes and forcing the viewer to the edge of her seat is the thriller, Cellular. Just to recap, in a nutshell, it’s a movie about a woman who is kidnapped. She uses a demolished phone to call for help and gets hold of a young man whose girlfriend has broken up with him because of his irresponsibility. A deadline of sorts hangs over their conversation (an essential element in any suspense), because, at any moment, they could get cut off, and she may never be able to dial out again. She must convince this random guy […]
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