Okay, so you’ve introduced your hero and heroine, and the stakes of the story, even hinted at their fears at the outset of the book…now, how do you weave in the SUSPENSE. First, let’s take a look at the defition of a suspense: An everyday hero or heroine confronts a believable, compelling, immediate and terrifying threat, and using their unique abilities, learning more, confronting their own lies and eventually finding a new strength, they overcome and win the day. The key to that definition is the word: EVENT E – Event – The EVENT in a suspense is the bad thing that will happen if the hero/heroine don’t stop it. It’s what is at STAKE in the story that propels our h/hn to face their darkest fears, summon their courage […]
Read the RestArchive | General Topics RSS feed for this section
Nikki’s Haunted House
Hey all! I’m back from Phili (waving to everyone who was at the Greater Phili Christian Writer’s Conference!) and ready to talk…SUSPENSE! I taught this class for the first time last week – and, as I was thinking about how to talk about suspense had, of course, to tell the story of Nikki Anderson’s haunted house. (just skip ahead if you’ve already heard this). Twelve years old. Halloween. Me and the neighbor boy. We stood outside my friend Nikki’s house from which oozed eerie cackling laughter and fake smoke and trembled. We’d heard her father was transforming the house for our yearly trick and treat around the neighborhood, but for the first time, I feared entering the one-story 1970’s rambler. My little heart thundered in my chest…what if something, you […]
Read the RestChecking in…and out…
Hey all!! I’m back from San Fran (had fun wow-ing my boys with my skydiving video – my 13 year old said, “Oh, I’m so jealous!” My 17 year old said, “Never in a million years!” and my 11 year old said, (and this is my favorite) “You are SO cool, mom!!” *grin* Anyway, I’m off tomorrow to Philadelphia for the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writer’s Conference — SOOO, more fun pix of San Fran will have to wait. And I’ll bet you’re all thinking — HELLO, are we EVER going to talk about writing again? YES, YES!! Suspense is next on the agenda, and anticipation is the hallmark of Suspense….so….I’ll be blogging as soon as i get back next week. In the meantime, to get us started — WHAT ARE […]
Read the RestI’m just a California Girl
I love California! It’s not too hot (sorry, Florida), and it’s full of fun things to see — we went to Yosemite on Saturday, but sadly, only got a hazy view of El Capitan (and not because we’d been in the car for 3 hours with small children) because of the smoke from the first in NoCal (I’m talking like a local now). Went to Pier 39 on Tuesday – tried to get IN to Alcatraz (In -get it?) but the tickets we all sold out. So, here’s a picture of me from the pier, looking from afar. I kept imagining…what must life have been like for those prisioners, seeing life so close, yet so far. Like a piece of chocolate you’ll never get to eat. Then, I headed […]
Read the Rest
