Suspense

I awoke after last night's writing with some thoughts about this question of when to cut away from a scene. So let's say you get the action up and running. That's good. In fact, that's a feat in itself. Get the action happening on stage, get it happening to the right person, build some tension and then cut away.

But I realized, last night I'd cut away too soon. It's not enough to introduce the big dilemma if you don't play with it a bit. So this morning I went back in and added another scene so the reader could enjoy the suspense of the thing a bit more. I wanted the reader to feel like I do when I watch a good movie and I'm hanging onto the dog, and telling the person on the screen, "Don't do that. Don't turn the door knob. Don't go inside."

I'm not writing a thriller but I understand the importance of suspense, at least I'm starting to. It takes a long time to understand where to cut to a new scene in order to build suspense but also when to LINGER in order to create suspense. I'm starting to listen to my body more when I write, if that makes any sense. I'm starting to feel my way through the story.

I read a graphic novel recently that might work well here as an example of this idea of lingering a while in order to build suspense. The novel is Ethel & Ernest by Raymond Briggs. The story opens on a Monday in 1928. A woman is dusting and a man rides by the house on his bicycle. The woman shakes her dust rag out the window at the exact time that the cyclist rides by. He thinks she's waving at him and he smiles at her and tips his hat. Tuesday, it happens again. The shake of a rag, the big smile from the cyclist and an even bigger wave of the hat. Wednesday, you think it's going to happen again, and the reader anticipates that Ethel and Ernest might exchange a greeting. But no. The writer, wisely, introduces some suspense. Wednesday, Ethel is at the window but gets pulled away by the voice of her emloyer. It is raining and the cyclist rides by in the rain, but no Ethel. Thursday, no cyclist. Ethel stands at the window waiting for him until again she's pulled away. Friday, again no cyclist, but lots of rain. Saturday and the weather has improved. The cyclist rings the doorbell, presents Ethel with a bouquet and asks her to the movies.

It's such a simple example, but you can see what would have happened had Ethel and Ernest met on a Tuesday instead of a Saturday. The passage of time and the rain and the forlorn expressions on their faces made the pleasure of their meeting all that much better.

I'm going to try to keep Ethel and Ernest in my mind. Delay gratification. Delay, delay, delay.

Building Blocks of Plot

Here are some steps that may be helpful to you in terms of structuring the plot:


1. Initial philosophy revealed, the status quo established. (The story doesn't have to start here, but you should know your central character's baseline.)

2. Inciting incident. Something happens to kickstart the action.

3. You have one central character and only one. She wants something intensely and it is this intensity that will motivate her to act. (No passive central characters.)

4. She struggles to achieve her goal. (And you see to it that her struggle is as difficult as possible). Escalate the difficulties. Struggle implies a protracted effort. In the scenes that build the character resists change. Holds onto belief system.

5. Midpoint of the story/chapter, the character is closest to achieving what she/he wants. Within grasp but he or she loses it.

6. Crisis: The character faces such questions as: Do I give up? Do I change what I want? Do I dig my heels in deeper? Do I fool myself into thinking I don't care? What am I made of? Biggest dilemma of her/his life. The central character is the furthest away from success. Zero hope.

7. Climax: Show how the narrator has changed. What does the character do?

8. Resolution: End with a different belief system. As a result of her struggle, she gets what she wants or does not. Maybe she gets something else, but there is a resolution.