Advice for Writers

Suspense, Thrills, and Common Oopsies of Mystery Novels

{I want to preface this update by saying I'm not a fan of mystery novels or horror stories. The extent of my knowledge comes from the few novels I read and the elements other books have that are exclusively thriller/suspense. I'm not an expert but am rather a 16 year old teen who's been learning to write and is currently enrolled in college to understand literature, psychology, sociology, and neuroscience better. Take everything I say lightly and apply what advice you feel would help best with your own journey as an author.}

I know last update I said I would talk about pacing if I'm correct, but besides that I wanted to talk about something I've noticed within a few novels I've read recently. Suspense is a tricky subject, you don't want to change your romance novel to be completely mysterious and suspenseful but you also don't want your thriller novel to have no semblance of mystery. Despite suspense being considered it's own genre it can actually be found in many novels published in America, and I would assume other countries as well (I'll probably update after I go through a world literature class.) For instance, last update Jenny Han's "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" was mentioned as a way to effectively use time skips. However, we'll be using it as an example of building up questions within a contemporary novel so spoilers ahead.

Within the novel, Lara Jean's letters are sent out under mysterious circumstances and it's a storyline within of itself that sets off the entire novel's story (also known as the inciting incident.) Although not mentioned a ton within the book, it is still an element that sticks in the reader's mind until it's revealed after much buildup and story beats that Kitty was the one who sent the letters out. This is what I would consider light suspense, as it's not the main focus of the story but rather the mystery of why the story was even occuring (besides the basic knowledge of letters being sent.)

Conversely, it can be found in thriller novels where suspense is pretty much mandatory to the overarching story that most of the novel needs to be suspenseful. From this category I'm picking two novels, one where I believe suspense is done well and the other where I believe it's done poorly. As a reminder, these are my opinions based on my own knowledge.

Beginning with the better of the two, Alice Feeney's "Sometimes I Lie" was her debut novel and, while not the best piece of literature, does have it's merits and upsides. The novel builds up suspense in a way where even if you predict the entire plot early-on that you still have the drive to read through the entire novel. Amber Reynolds is a compelling protagonist as her situation leaves us, the reader, in her position to question everything about her life. However, what makes this story more intriguing is the shifts in perspective between three different times. One is Amber's present while she's figuring out not only why she's in a coma but the strange behaviors of her sister, her husband, and her ex-lover. The second perspective is a shift to the past, always relevant to Amber's situation and uncovering her life story as we see the miserable life she's living. Lastly, there's sections where we follow a little girl who's clearly not in a caring situation where we, the reader, constantly question her relevance to the story. Although these elements may not make for the best story given the many components that storytelling has it does create, and this is our key word for this chapter, suspense! By the end of the novel, you'll either have a lovely sense of clarity after the story concludes or you're just happy the novel is over. Personally, I liked the novel and rated it something between 3.5-4★ but I wouldn't consider it a recommendation I'd give anybody who wasn't a fan of thrillers.

On the flip side, suspense can be poorly written and makes the novel a drag to read. This next novel was certainly not very entertaining because not only was the suspense purely suggested rather than clarified but the pacing and absurdity the story contrived made it feel like you were reading a mess. "Give Me Your Hand" by Megan Abbott was a story that had little suspense and never really did much of anything with that. The most it did was create mystery after mystery with plot twists everywhere in the hopes to keep the reader engaged to find out the most basic end-game reveal I've read yet. Within this story, Kit and Diane were friends since childhood but ever since Diane revealed her secrets to Kit everything became a mess in her life. Diane and Kit followed similar paths and met at the same lab many years after highschool. Diane's father is dead. Diane helps Kit hide the body of her lab crush Alex. This is within the first 50-75 pages and it builds up no suspense. You feel like you're watching events unfold but have little to no connection with the characters to feel as if it's deserved or justified. The story also has a very slow pacing which makes the lack of suspense even more unbearable to read through. The story's plot isn't bad but it isn't great either, and given the circumstances of the smaller workings of the book, it makes it feel like a chore to finish the novel. In the end I distinctly remember giving it a 2★ because, if nothing else, it was better than Bad Girl Gone.

So given the three examples, what advice do I have to share? Well, firstly, I advise that you plan your novel ahead rather than writing free lance. Take some index cards and write down the first chapter, the last chapter, and key events onto three separate pieces. Then, fill in the blanks and add the important bits of world-building, character development, and other elements you want to see in your story along with the storyline of each chapter and how it will build to the larger narrative. This is universal advice for all genres but I feel for thrillers it's especially important to keep continuity and likability or lack thereof for key characters in order to impact the reader in your desired way. (TIP: If your character's personality can fit on a singular sticky note then it's time to revisit their motivations and how they behave.)

Secondly, I would recommend having people read your drafts. It doesn't have to be your first or second draft but at some point you're going to share your novel with people. It's crucial to generate helpful feedback from people who read your work specifically rather than listening to the advice from some teenager on Wattpad (although I'm open to helping in any way people need.) You don't have to do it with complete strangers, you can start with friends and family who you know will give you reliable feedback and will thus tell you what should be done. The easiest way to catch plot holes is for someone to point it out to you. Again, this is universal, but it's effective still.

Thirdly, and this is exclusively for this genre, write out the event(s) that took place and underline specific points to integrate into specific chapters to avoid continuity issues and make the story seem more realistic and exciting to readers. It's basic but writing it in the third-person perspective helps to not only put the base to the inciting incident but also helps to keep a steady structure throughout the novel.

Thank you for reading another update from me. I'm going to try and write more but I can't guarantee much as I've been really busy doing other things. I will say, however, that I will try and do that chapter on pacing. People don't appreciate pacing enough and it's a writer's guide to becoming great.

{PS I was reading a book today and TS Elliott was mentioned. I was very happy that my months of College English paid off, Alfred Prufrock was not a story I wanted to write an essay about.}