In order to write suspense you need to be able to tell the difference between it and mystery. Mystery tells you what happens at the beginning of the story whereas in the suspense genre it tells you what's at stake and then builds up to what happens. To master it, try these nine steps.
[1] Viewpoint
The reader needs foresight. They need to be able to see something before it is going to happen in order for the feeling of suspense to build up within them. This will cause tension that will build some emotion from knowing that the character is going to run into trouble.
[2] Time
If you use time restraints, this can easily cause more suspense. The protagonist should be working against the clock, and the clock should be working for the antagonists. Every minute you shorten for the MC, is adding more fuel to the fire under the reader's seat.
[3] Stakes
The stakes need to be kept high. It doesn't need to be world threatening, but it needs to be able to destroy the MC's life if it isn't fulfilled. It needs to be important enough that the reader can sympathize your character.
[4] Pressure
The pressure needs to be excruciatingly painful. All of your MC's strengths should be stretched to the breaking point. They should also not buckled under the pressure, the only person who should be doing that should be the reader.
[5] Dilemmas
You need a bunch of challenges for your protagonist in order to make solving them seem unlikely, that's where the suspense comes from. As a hero the MC can't let these dilemmas go unsolved, it's in their nature to have them all fixed.
[6] Complicating Things
Pile the problems on your character. Give them more than they could handle so that they're stretched wafer-thin. To make it even more suspenseful, have your MC barely preventing things from going south.
[7] Be Unpredictable
Your characters, protagonist and antagonists, shouldn't be able to rely on anything going their way. And any step forward for both of them should come at a price. Mother Nature can come into effect by throwing plans to the ground. Public holidays or family can also get into the way very easily.
[8] Need a Good Villain
Your villain needs to be straightforward, the readers need to know who they are and why they became that person. The ultimate villain should be cunning, smart, and motivated. This can cause a lot of disruptions for your characters and keep readers firmly attached to the La-Z-Boys for the length of your book.
[9] Need a Good Hero
If your book has a great villain, it needs a great hero, too. Your reader needs to be able to believe in the hero, but not quite sure if something will go wrong for them. When the hero is in grave peril, you, as the writer, needs to be able to make the reader hope that they'll come through.
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A Guide to Writing
Non-FictionOk, so I know that there are a lot of these books out there on Wattpad. The reason I decided to write this book was because I found it hard to find actual guidelines on the internet for this kind of stuff. So I put together what I learned from many...
