How do you find those Peripheral Plotting elements? Yesterday we talked about Peripheral Plotting – a great little trick to widening your suspense plot. How, however, do you find those elements? Look around you – each one of us has people and things we care about in a widening circle. This is our periphery. Let’s say my goal is to get to the airport so I can get to Seattle to see my mother for Christmas. In a linear plot, all that might stand between me and my goal might be transportation, or perhaps money. Maybe getting time off from my job. But let’s do some peripheral plotting. Let’s say that I get a call from the principle of the school. My son has had a fight on the playground […]
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How to use “Sacrifice” in your suspense novel – some examples
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, […]
Read the RestThe 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 Rest“I couldn’t put it down!” Using Stakes and Motivations to build riveting suspense!
I saw two suspense movies this weekend: I am Number Four and Unstoppable. Both were enjoyable – both captured my attention and moved me into the story. But neither of were epic. Neither of them made me care, rooted me to my seat in fear, or made me jump from it yelling. Why? Because they both lacked the key elements of Stake and Motivation. The key to a great story is the combination of both, and this is the third element needed in a great suspense. In a riveting suspense, there is always a rising interplay of balance between the motivation and stakes of the story. As things get worse, and their fears grow, so also do their motivations to defeat the fears. Let’s start […]
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