How to Build Suspense in Your Novel - WritersLife.org

How to Build Suspense in Your Novel - WritersLife.org     Grab your free writer's toolkit by going to http://www.writerslife.org/toolkit  Where to follow and listen to WritersLife.org:    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/writerslifeorg/    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/writerslife.org/     Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/writerslifeorg    Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/writerslifeorg/    Google +: http://www.WritersLife.org/googleplus     Website: http://www.WritersLife.org   Products: http://www.WritersLife.org/shop    Podcast: http://writerslife.org/podcast    Join Our Team: http://writerslife.org/contribute/    Advertise your book and.or writing  https://www.facebook.com/WritersLifeAdvertisingPlatform/?ref=br_rs   Thank you for listening Please Share it. We LOVE to read comments so please leave a comment and subscribe to Our channel:  https://www.youtube.com/writerslifeorg Grab your free writer's toolkit by going to  http://www.writerslife.org/finish-your-book ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hello it's Peter here again from writers life and today how to build suspense in your novel building suspense in your novel is a great way to engage the reader get them hooked on the story and ensure that they want to read on building dramatic tension regardless of what your book is about will keep your reader reading but how do you do it it's important to remember that suspense is maintained by building up to an event something the reader assumes will be terrible yet not actually allowing that event to happen yet you need to heighten anticipation until it's almost too much to bear and then just when the reader is on the edge of their seat bring it to a dramatic climax or payoff so here are some tips to ensure that you build suspense in your novel first focus on sensations a strange noise a faint breeze on the back of your protagonists neck the whiff of something unusual by including plenty of sensory detail in your book you can create tension and a sense of foreboding give everyday objects clever descriptions and suddenly they become potentially dangerous and full of meaning if you build up these sensory details little by little you will build up the tension in the scene and next slow down slowing down heightened suspense of course you do need to get the balance right you cannot slow the action down so much that it becomes tedious to read however in specific scenes where a buildup of tension is required your characters movements should be slow deliberate and careful to slow down time make your sentences longer and more complex allow the reader into the mindset of the character whether they are feeling tense too or have absolutely no idea what is about to happen either way the dramatic tension will be exasperated next use it sparingly while it's important to evoke suspense in your novel remember that if your whole book is tense and there is no breath your reader will lose interest you need to keep advancing the plot or perhaps include humorous scenes for relief building tension should be done slowly and carefully you don't need to overdo it and next you suspense to hint at what is to come if you want to build up tension in your book you can build a scene full of suspense early on and then let it end without anything awful happening this way you are hinting that perhaps your character got away lucky this time but next time it might be a different story so the second time they walk home alone or go down to the beach at night or go back to that abandoned cabin in the woods the reader suspect that something dramatic will happen and that anticipation will build the suspense even more and our final tip give the reader what they want make sure that after building the suspense in your novel that your reader gets what they have been waiting for you need to build to a dramatic earth-shattering climax that really gets a reaction from the reader without this they will feel let down and cheated so make sure you always have an endpoint in mind so with these five tips you can start to think about how to build up suspense and dramatic tension in your novel which is sure to have your readers hold on your every word and don't forget if you're struggling to write or finish your novel our free writers toolkit can help with it you'll learn how to overcome procrastination yet organized stay focused find time to write and finally get your book published to get access to it now while it's still available simply go to http://www.writerslife.org/toolkit that's it for now   be sure to give us a thumbs up and as I always say subscribe to our channel for more I'm Peter and I'll see you next time bye for now