How to Write a New Book for New Authors..Pt.6

In Part 5, we discussed how to develop suspense and keep the reader totally engulfed in the story and unable to put the book down. It isn’t all that easy, but when you learn how to do it, and you will, it is really fun and exciting. To that point, make sure your writing is fun or you won’t do it. There is a great you should read as a writer. It is called The War of Art. It is all about how people find everyway in the world not to do their work as an artist. In the very first few pages of the book the author makes the point that writing isn’t that hard, it’s the sitting down to write that is hard. So, make a schedule and get ‘er done.

In this part we are going to talk about another suspense technique: danger. Danger and life threatening events are almost always a great way to create suspense and intrigue. The Da Vinci Code was great at this. There was always something dangerous going on. Or, The Jason Bourne films are another great example. If you can get your readers to indentify with your characters, then putting those characters in danger will keep your readers glued to your book.

Danger seems to work really well with mystery and thriller novels. Horror novels, too, need a lot of danger. There are couple ways at least to go about creating the danger feel. One way is to let the reader in on the upcoming danger so they know what is going to happen before it does happen. You’ve most likely seen this countless times in horror movies where the young girl is about to open a door and you know the monster from down under is waiting there licking his chops. This technique is useful because the reader is saying to themselves “Oh my God, don’t open that door” even though they know all too well that is exactly what is going to happen. It’s a car wreck in words. They can’t look away. They have to read on.

The second technique, then, is the reader doesn’t know what is going to happen. This happens a lot in mystery novels where the unknowing participants know something is probably going to happen but they don’t know what. This is an often used movie technique where, say, people are placed in a haunted house and they know there are threatening ghost and danger but the suspense is they have no idea when it will strike or how terrible the outcome may be. This works well in books, too, because you can drag the reader along giving them hints and clues the actual characters don’t know. Then, just when something is going to happen that you have led the reader to believe but haven’t really said it in so many words, you twist it up liked we talked about before and give ‘em that “I didn’t see that coming” feeling. Readers love that.

So, if you want to create even more suspense, use danger as a tool. This doesn’t fit in all types of books, but it does help in many cases.

Johnny Applespeed is a multi-faceted artist focusing on writing, music, art and fashion. His latest novel PRESS RELEASE is a unique project combining a mystery thriller novel and a music CD with the same title. It is a unique entertainment experience. Visit johnnyapplespeed.com today to learn more.