Riding the Suspense Roller Coaster

The suspense or thriller novel builds your anticipation of what will happen next. It succeeds by working on your emotions to build a sense of dread, awe or whatever feeling is appropriate as you anticipate what will happen next in the story. Fear and terror are often involved, but other emotions can come into play as well, such as love as you anticipate two people coming together in a suspense-filled forbidden romance. Worry and anxiety play a big role in thriller stories. The author is free to play with any and all emotions while gearing the reader up for what happens next. 

For example, in the film Psycho, Hitchcock spends a lengthy portion of the movie developing Janet Leigh’s character before killing her off in the infamous shower scene. Why spend so much time on a character who is not the main focus of the film? Hitchcock wants you to be emotionally involved with the murder victim before he kills her off to heighten your reaction to the shower scene. Because you care about Marion Crane (Janet Leigh’s character), you experience a greater sense of terror and a heightened sense of loss when she is murdered.

My novel, Fulfillment, is a suspense yarn woven around the original Christmas story. Have you ever wondered about the young girl chosen to become the mother of Jesus? What was she like? Unlike Hitchcock, I throw her into the muddle with Satan before you get to know her. You’ll learn about her as the story of her war with Satan moves forward to the inevitable birth of Jesus and beyond. For the character of Rachel (“Rachel weeps and will not be comforted”), I spend several chapters developing this delightful young mother just so you can fall in love with her and then experience the depths of her despair when the soldiers arrive.

The idea of the thriller or suspense novel is to take you on an emotional roller coaster ride. If you like roller coasters, watch Psycho or read my novel. Enjoy.

Here’s another novel idea…
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Suspense, Terror, Romance, Oh My!

Writers choose a genre of fiction that works best for them. I focus on suspense/thriller while mixing in elements of other genres. This video covers the types of fiction I blend together to make a story.

To learn more about my suspense novel Fulfillment, click here for Amazon or click here for paperback.

Here’s another novel idea…
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Bag Lady

 Welcome to the return of Scary Suspense Theater featuring a tale from the light side of suspense. Enjoy.

To learn more about my suspense novel Fulfillment, click here for Amazon or click here for paperback.

Here’s another novel idea…
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Character and Plot Work Together

When you read a suspense/thriller novel, which interests you most: plot or character? Today’s action-packed films, TV shows and novels pile action upon action without giving you a pause for a rest. In such stories, do you even have time to think about the characters? Or are you satisfied knowing some girl is in distress and some hunk is about to save her if he can only get past the bad guys? Is the fun in the act of killing the bad guys while taking a beating?

Or do you care that the girl in question is an innocent college freshman kidnapped from her dorm with her roommate? Maybe she has more debt than she can handle and works a part-time job at a coffee shop where she has a crush on the head barista. Do you care that she dresses in conservative attire and reminds people of a latter day Grace Kelly? In the scene where she was kidnapped, were you moved more by the sweet sound of her golden voice singing in the shower or the rough hands of the kidnapper reaching through the curtains to grab her and drag her kicking and screaming away?

Do you care that the hunk out to save this young lady is her father? Do you feel his anguish as he considers what the kidnapper is doing to his daughter and her roommate? Or do you focus on the particular form of eastern fighting technique he learned while serving as a Navy Seal? Are you looking forward to the girl being restored to her life or to the battle between ex-Seal Dad and a handful of drug-crazed kidnappers?

If you’re reading suspense/thriller novels, my guess is your interest is in the plot or action of the story. You want to see how the dad saves his daughter and read the battle scene where dad rescues the girl and kills the bad guys.

Reading suspense/thriller novels rewards you with exciting “what happens next” action. In the first read through, enjoy the action. If you take the time to read the story a second time, stay alert to the characters. Take time to learn who they are. You may discover a second or third story lurking behind the main action. You may find a romance between a sweet young lady and a starving artist barista. Or you may find a touching story about a father’s love for his family despite his years away from home serving his nation in the military. These secondary stories are well worth the reading and breathe life into the main action of the story. It’s one thing to witness the action of daddy saving daughter, but it’s another thing to feel the father’s pain or experience the daughter’s terror in a way that only a friend or family member can.

If someone kidnaps a stranger, that’s news. If someone kidnaps your friend, that’s personal. By focusing on the characters in a second read of a suspense/thriller novel, the story becomes personal.

To learn more about my suspense novel Fulfillment, click here for Amazon or click here for paperback.

Here’s another novel idea…
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Characters Form the Heart of Suspense/Thriller Fiction

If you are like me, the first time through a suspense/thriller novel, you’re focused on the action of the story, also known as the plot. Along the way, you are well aware of the characters and the issues the characters are dealing with because, let’s face it, there is no way to separate plot from character.

You may not want to read every thriller twice, but the ones you enjoy the most are worth a repeat visit. The second time around, focus on the characters rather than the plot. You already know what happens next. Now, you want to go deeper into how the characters are impacted by the action.

Start with the main character
What is the main character’s big problem at the start of the story? In my novel Fulfillment, Mary is a happily engaged teenager with no problem to deal out of the ordinary, thank you very much. But then Satan intervenes in her life which leaves her wondering why so much evil is out to get her? The answer comes from an angel visit, also early in the story. How Mary grows through her experiences on a journey that is both physical and spiritual is at the heart of her personal story. In my forthcoming novel, Faerie Tale, the main character has to fulfill a quest which forms the main action for the story while also growing my main character as a human being. But the supporting cast also grows. For example, Peevy begins the story as a man-hater. Watch how she changes through the story when I release the novel later this spring.

As the story you are reading progresses, look for how the characters solve their problems. One challenge is the main plot in which someone or something is out to cause harm. Look beyond this main plot. What else is an issue for the characters? How does each character deal with their issues? How do they grow or mature as the story progresses? How are the characters different at the end of the story compared to the way they were at the beginning?

In some suspense/thriller stories, the characters don’t go through much of a change. The author is telling a simple action story in which some people have to deal with a monster. That’s it. Story over. This approach is used in some series novels where the main character remains pretty much the same from novel to novel.

The second time you read a novel that is part of a series, look for subtle indications of change. You won’t find many unless the author plans to “grow” the character over the course of the series. Stay alert for mention of things that happened in the main character’s past life before the story began. These little insights tell you more about why the main character behaves the way she or he does.

The novels you really enjoy reading work so well because the author has built more into the story than the plot. By paying close attention to the characters on your second read, you’ll begin to see how the author builds a story that has an appealing complexity to it. This complexity is often compared to an onion where once you peel away one layer of the story, you discover another layer underneath. The more layers you peel off, the more you discover. Look for this depth as read and re-read the book.

To learn more about my novel Fulfillment, click here for Amazon or click here for paperback.

Here’s another novel idea…
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Reading for Plot

If like me, you’re hardwired for suspense/thriller stories, then you want to know what happens next. Sure you care about the main characters. Will she live or die? Will the boy marry the girl? But that first time around, we’re focused on the monster. How are they going to kill that thing?

Plot-driven fiction concentrates on the action, usually because the action is bigger than life. But all stories have action. All stories have plot. The difference when you read a plot-driven story is your satisfaction comes primarily from the action of the story rather than the changes the characters may undertake during the action.

In suspense/thriller genre fiction, the story opens with something bad happening but the reader isn’t clued in yet as to what the terror is. As the story continues and more bad things happen to good people, the reader realizes who or what the monster is. The characters in the story figure out who the monster is usually about one-third of the way through the novel. Once they know who is doing it, they go about the business of killing the beast. This journey or quest leads to a climactic battle in which the forces of good triumph over evil in the traditional suspense/thriller.

In more recent stories, the “monster” turns out to be not so bad after all. So the author lets the vampire off the hook in Twilight and the space monster gets his space ship back and leaves the earth unharmed in the film Super8. The real "monster" in Super8 isn't the monster at all. It's the air force officer who abuses the monster. But the space monster ends up killing his share of good guys as well as the evil air force officer.

This shift away from good versus evil reflects today’s culture where morality has degenerated into a philosophy based on “it’s all good.” In traditional storytelling, it ain’t "all good." There are good guys and bad guys. The main character’s job is to stop the bad guy. While it's important to understand we are all capable of good and evil actions, suspense/thriller stories work best when the forces of good battle the forces of evil with a clear victory for good. Otherwise the quest fails. Keep in mind suspense/thriller stories are bigger than life with no need to muck around in the depths of sloppy morality.

Read it again, Sam
One of the joys of the second time reading an action-driven story is discovering the characters. For example, in my novel Fulfillment, which is about God versus Satan, Mary starts out as an innocent, fearful young teenage girl. By story’s end, she is a strong woman who protects her infant son from the vilest of evils. In my soon to be released novel, Faerie Tale, an ex-con who has been beaten down by life after a wrongful conviction, grows into the strong, forceful personality well able to take on demonic forces. So just to contradict myself a little bit, mucking around in the depths of sloppy morality can add to the character development in a suspense/thriller story, but the author should tell this story from a moral base firmly rooted in good triumphs over evil.

To learn more about my novel Fulfillment, click here for Amazon or click here for paperback.

Here’s another novel idea…
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New Series: How to Read Suspense

I'm launching a new series of short videos and follow-up commentary for readers of suspense or thriller stories.

Is this you?
You find a book you like. You read it. You enjoy it. You put it on a shelf, toss it, give it away, return it to the library or wrap the fish in it, but your rarely read the novel more than once. Why not? You can learn a lot by reading a novel for the second or third time. For example, you enjoyed the book so much, you couldn't put it down. Ever wonder how the author kept your attention?

Starting with plot and character
The first topic in my series on reading suspense fiction is character-driven fiction versus plot-driven fiction. What's the difference? Why should you care as a reader? Enjoy the video and comment below.