The Page Turner

All books have a sense of suspense, whether it be a life and death struggle or a romantic tryst about to be uncovered. Suspense is that something that keeps the reader up hours past their bed time reading just one more page.

But how to write it?

I'm reminded of when I started to play soccer. There were so many things to think about. It's hard to remember all of them at first, so you do your best. The more you play the easier those things come. Before you know it, you're able to run and cut and shoot without much thought.

The same is true for writing good character driven prose. Suspense is one of those things that will fall into place when you've learned to develop characters the readers care about, plots that keep the reader intrigued, and a writing style that flows in an enjoyable rhythm.

Of course there are tricks that you can pick up, such as, short sentences. But these tricks can't fix bad prose or a weak plot. Perhaps the only worthwhile trick is to keep the story arch in mind while writing. Each scene should add to the suspense of the overarching story line. The scene escalation should culminate at the novel's climax.