Sorry for the lack of updates of late. It's been quite hectic. I volunteer at the local University mending brittle bound books, and have also been taking some time to try and get some writing done. The sad thing is, I tend to study writing more than actually write.
And that's where this blog comes in.
I want to talk about building suspense in your novel. This may seem like easy stuff, and if you've heard about it/know about it/can do it naturally, then congrats--I admire you, because I'm not one of those people who can. I write high fantasy (fantasy that takes place on another world) and epic fantasy, so I tend to do a lot of world building, rewrite to destroy some of that world building, and then rewrite again. Amidst all of those rewrites, much of the suspense is lost, because I am thinking of what's interesting and what's not.
I like character-driven stories and dialogue-driven plot. This means I tend to put everything else on the back burner. To me, dialogue can say a lot more than an internal monologue. The problem with dialogue is that if you do it wrong, you give too much away.
"Duh," you might be thinking, "it's not hard to figure that out!" Well, no, it's not. But consider: How do you write dialogue as well as hide certain things a character *might* say? How do you edge around common knowledge without losing suspense? Finally, which genre do you write in?
Some genres have it easier than others. In romances building suspense is a little easier. I know it's not easier overall, but there's something about romance that makes readers *need* to know more. Romances play off of our desires, and we as the readers want to know what happens because we want that sexual satisfaction.
Epic fantasy (and fantasy in general) can have romance in it. Actually, a lot does. But there are some fantasies where the romance is downplayed (think later books of "The Black Company" or "The Glass Dragon"). I'm not saying it is non-existent--in fact, it's the very low-key romance that keeps us interested. There are hints throughout, but not enough to over saturate us with lust (as opposed to some YA paranormal romance, which is what it's supposed to do).
Examine the suspense, and what kind of audience you're targeting. Romantically oppressed tweens (NOT a bad thing--it sells like hotcakes!) or relationship-experienced adults and college students? The latter is a little more difficult to work with when building suspense, because much of the time, they *know* how a relationship is supposed to unfold. That's why books like "The Dragon Nimbus" and "The Color of Distance" put love in the background.
Now then, onto perspective. Perspective (POV) is really important when building suspense in your novels. I know he's not the only one to do it, but Sanderson is one of my favorite examples of this. He builds up something to be BIG (i.e. the army in the first book led by Kelsier), and then knocks it down HARD. He does what people DON'T want to have happen. Brilliant. It builds suspense because it makes you roll your eyes and mutter, "Why did they *do* that? It's so bad!" Notice how I said "bad," not "stupid." When a character who is supposed to be smart does something insanely stupid, it can be unbelievable. But if you build inherent flaws into your character, then slip-ups help to build suspense.
My favorite thing about suspense is trying to put it in by not overdoing POV. I like to write the first few drafts of a novel with 5-10 POVs, then cut that down to 3 or 4 (4 is pushing it). Why? Well, for one, having all of the POVs makes it easier to build characters. I know exactly how they would react, how they think, and what they're like. This helps me to portray them from the outside when another character observes them. It also helps me get the nitty-gritty of the scene down pat, because I've seen it from so many different perspectives.
At the same token, the first draft will substantially lack in suspense. So later, I go back and make notes of what each character knows, choose a few that are consistent throughout the story (i.e., the main character, his or her sidekick, and the antagonist), and build up what they do and don't know. Then I write scenes around them. Then I build on those scenes. Then I try to pull a Sanderson. Most of the time, I fail. This is because new ideas come to me and I can tweak it to make it better.
I make it better, even after submitting to agents and saying I'm done because I know it can be improved. Any novel can always be better. This goes back to what I've said before about revising and using new ideas. You will really learn a lot if you keep pushing for new things in your novel. Not to say this works with everyone; it just happens to work well for me (of course, I'm on my 15th or so draft of this book, so it depends on what you want--quantity or obsession).
Building suspense is like dropping bread crumbs and then suddenly having wild animals get in your way. They eat the crumbs, and now you're not only out of luck, but they want to rip your head off, too. So, remember, try to learn for yourself what suspense is and how to develop it without giving too much away. Study the books you read. As a writer, you will never find any better resource than the books you read. After all, if there's something about them that captivates you, then it worked for the author. It sells. Learn what it is. Figure out how to mimic it in a unique fashion, then apply it to your own work (just don't plagiarize!).
After all, we're not just writers. We're researchers, scholars, and fighters.
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