The last few 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). So far, the Big Event needs to be Believable, Compelling, Immediate…and now Terrifying. See, we need to believe that his horrible Big Event will be…horrible. This is different from believing it can happen. It’s answering the questions — so what? If it happens, how does it affect me? You make it terrifying by looking at two different perspectives – personal and public fears. Personal fears […]
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The Big Event…make it immediate!
We need another bathroom in our home. Not that we don’t already have three, but we have an unfinished room in the basement, plumbed out for a bathroom. More importantly, our daughter is graduating from High School next month, and I have about 30,875 people arriving at our home for the festivities. I’m anticipating a high need. So…with that thought in mind, I dragged my husband to the tile store to contemplate options. His eyes nearly rolled into the back of his head from the excitement. Still, with a vision of the lineup in front of the boy’s scary bathroom, he helped me pick out tiles. See, it’s not about whether we need this, but how soon. Even more important than the need is the deadline that looms […]
Read the RestThe 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 […]
Read the RestDoes your protagonist have a Super Power? You bet!
During the My Book Therapy Deep Thinkers Retreat I threw Beth Vogt a curve. “What’s your heroine’s super power?” She looked at me like I was crazy. But I had a plan. A purpose. In Beth’s story, her heroine left a high powered job to work with a poor community. As the character realizes her limitations on a local mission field, I suggested she jump to her super power. “And what would that be?” Beth asked, brow arched, lips twisted with dubiosity. “She can raise money,” I said. “She knows how to get money from people. She’s gifted. She has the contacts, the connections, the right talent to pitch ideas.” Ah, so lights began to dawn. Now, I’m not sure Beth is going to use this super power, but it […]
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