The document provides tips for maintaining tension when writing suspense stories. It recommends showing rather than telling details to avoid info dumps. Authors should create believable threats that are devastating to main characters. When problems arise for characters, they should make wrong choices with consequences. Pacing is important, using short phrases and dialogue to increase tension between action scenes. Each chapter should end with a hook to encourage readers to continue.

1. How do you maintain tension when writing suspense stories?
After attending dozens of writing workshops and numerous conferences, I
compiled a list of rules that I depend on daily when writing romantic suspense.
These recommended guidelines are a great tool for creating tension and
expectation, which is essential to keeping your readers turning those pages!
Remember to show, don't tell! I’ve heard this over and over again and it is the
most common mistake among new writers. The fewer blocks of description or
passive writing you include, the better. Avoid "info dumps" where you include
sections of research information and background details you might consider
important. This will only serve one purpose: bringing your story to a screeching halt
and turning it into a boring textbook. Instead, focus on current events or the overall
point of your storyby including realistic dialogue and fun, action-packed scenes.
Make sure to create a “believable” threat or frightening dilemma, such as
akidnapping, unexploded bomb or an impending disaster. You might add a
psychological danger such as the loss of a job or dying family member. The trick is to
make the threat relevantand potentially devastating to your main characters.
When things seem to go wrong, they can only get worse, which is a great plan
of attack for keeping your reader’s interest. Ask yourself, "What would people do in
this situation?" Then have your character do the unexpected, open the wrong door
or make the wrong choice, leaving them facing the consequences of their actions.
In suspense pacing is by far the most important aspect of your story. A
common practice is to increase tension by shortening your phrases and dialogue.
While lengthy sentences add a more relaxed mood to your story, short choppy ones
read faster and help make scenes more suspenseful. But don’t get carried away and
make the mistake of wearing your readers out by keeping action rolling at fever
pitch. As in “real” life, characters need to catch their breath after an exhausting
action scene.
Determine the timeline for your story, remembering that quick scenes or
episodes that occur in a matter of hours or over the course of a day are far more
suspenseful than scenes taking place over several days, weeks or months.
Lastly, be sure to end each chapter with a great hook or final line to keep
readers from putting your book down. This could be a revelation, unanswered
question or sudden discovery that can only be answered or revealed by reading
further. The best suspense stories leave readers hungry for knowledge and anxious
to know where the story’s ultimately leading.
KaylinMcFarren
Stories that touch the soul
Severed Threads – Book One in the Threads series
Available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble & Powell’s Book Store
www.kaylinmcfarren