Seven ways to inject suspense into your novel

Certain genres are famous for being more suspenseful than others: horror, crime fiction, and romantic suspense, but each and every book, regardless of whether it’s a historical romance or paranormal fantasy, SHOULD have a level of suspense intertwined in between! pages!

All stories must have this element, otherwise the reader will not want to turn the page, it’s as simple as that. So, if you’re interested in what makes a suspenseful page turner, read on…

Creating conflict in your novel is a given, otherwise there would be no story. If everything went well, it would be as boring as dishwater, right? They all lived happily ever after, yawn…

I have listed seven ways that you can inject suspense into your novel:

1. Present your characters with their worst nightmare!

Learn about your characters beforehand. If possible, write down their likes and dislikes, etc., and most important of all, find out what they fear the most. What is it that makes their hearts pound, beads of sweat form on their upper lips, and the hairs on the nape of their necks stand on end? Find out what that thing or things is and then give it to him, both barrels. For example, if your heroine is terrified of flying because her parents died in a plane crash, create a story where she HAS to take a plane trip. If your hero is afraid of water because he almost drowned when he was a little boy, put him in a position where he HAS to go back into the water to rescue someone.

Present them with your worst nightmare and see how they react!

2. Lulling them into a false sense of security

When your character is really scared about something, add a red herring. For example, if your heroine believes that she hears a noise outside, she allows the plot to let her fears grow and grow. Make it something quite innocuous, like the dustbin blown away by the wind. Then, when she has calmed down, heaving a sigh of relief, she petrifies her to death by placing a prowler at the back door.

3. Put the spotlight on at least two people

This may sound a bit obvious, but for God’s sake, don’t make the villain of the play stand out a mile. Instead, cast suspicion on at least two, possibly three characters. This will have the effect that your reader won’t really be safe until the very end, when the other shoe drops! But of course, leave some hints and some red herrings along the way!

4. Rhythm

Pacing is important to create suspense. In general, short and concise sentences will allow the reader to move on and feel his heart beating in time with the frightened protagonist. Longer sentences tend to slow things down. You might want to speed things up for a car chase or slow things down for a lovemaking scene. Imagine your novel as if you were watching it on the big screen. How would it be filmed? What would that particular scene be like for the audience?

5. The calm before the storm

Take advantage of the weather to good effect. Thunderclouds looming overhead, often giving the reader the feeling that something is about to happen. [prophetic fallacy]. A bolt of lightning striking the night sky, downed power lines, a stranger at the door, etc. Think about the last time you saw a horror movie; Didn’t the weather get in somewhere?

6. When all goes well, drop a dead body!

When you get to the middle of a sunken novel and find there’s nowhere to go, try dumping a dead body. This does not necessarily mean that a character should be killed, although you may want to do just that, it may mean that something unexpected happens, such as a baby being born, etc. Something that injects a little more oomph into the plot!

7. Configuration

Setting is very important as a tool to create suspense. What about that dark stone staircase covered in cobwebs? Or the elevator that suddenly stops between floors? Choosing the right type of setting can make or break a novel. And sometimes placing the object or person the protagonist fears in an innocuous setting can make the story even scarier.

Be cruel to your characters and watch them run for their lives!