So What Happens Next?

 by Charlotte Bennardo

You know the joke:

How do you keep someone in suspense?

I don't know, how?

Photo by Sound On: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-red-long-sleeve-shirt-3760767/

(silence......)

Suspense is an integral part of fiction, even if the book is not a mystery or thriller. There has to be a bit of suspense in every book to keep the reader turning the page. There are a number of ways to create it:

• End the chapter on a cliffhanger: The door creaked open...
• Have the character or narrator ask questions, and then don't answer them right away: "Who's there?" Was that the front door opening?
• Add something unexpected: When she opened the door, there stood her dead husband.
• Use setting to convey a threatening atmosphere: Lightning slashed the sky, illuminating the room briefly. And the shadow of a menacing figure moving toward her.
• Take something away: The handcuffs snapped around her wrists, and her life as she knew it, was over.

There are other ways to create suspense. How to learn this skill? Read the masters, like Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Peter Benchley, Agatha Christie. They all use different techniques, so read them. Experiment, adapt, and then practice. 

Charlotte writes MG, YA, NA, and adult novels and short stories in sci fi, fantasy, contemporary, horror, paranormal and romance genres. She is the author of the award-winning middle grade Evolution Revolution trilogy: Simple Machines, Simple Plans, and Simple Lessons. She co-authored the YA novels Blonde OPS, Sirenz, and Sirenz Back in Fashion. She has several short stories in anthologies and online, along with newspaper and magazine articles. Having finished her MFA, she's applying what she learned and is working on several children's and adult novels and short stories. She lives in NJ but dreams of a Caribbean beach house.