Hum. Over here at
http://johndbrown.com/writers/John Brown shares some of his thinking about writing. It's kind of interesting, and since I'm trying to ignore my back right now (this has been a holiday week, and somewhere in the process, I did something that has caused my lower back to get upset. But I'm trying to ignore it, hoping that it will settle down again soon... so...)
In the meantime, let's take a look at what John Brown thinks about creating suspense for a reader, in regards to the problem. Now, from the top page, John reminds us that writing really isn't about a bunch of rules. Writing is about story. And the point of story, what you're trying to do, is make something happen in a reader. What do you think that is?
Yes! Bonus points to the fellow in the back who yelled out, "Suspense!" Right you are. Readers want to feel suspense. And in the pages on problem, character, plot, and structure, John talks about what conditions make the reader feel suspense.
At which point, we should take a look at how problem and suspense interact, right? Right! So over here
http://johndbrown.com/2010/10/the-key-conditions-for-reader-suspense-part-1-problem/John talks about that. He gives an example -- starting with a man turning on his sprinklers. Boring! But... add in a little action in the background, with an intruder pointing a gun at the man's daughter, and threatening something... and pretty soon, there's some real suspense there. What's going to happen?
John looks at stories, and points out that what we really want is to feel hope and fear for the character. Curiosity, sympathy, worry... and that wonderful cathartic release when we find out what happens. It's not really action, explosions, chases, and so forth in the text that does the job. It's something that happens in the reader. Dramatic tension can happen in a very quiet scene, IF the reader is worried about the character.
Okay. So how do we get dramatic tension? Basically, we want to hope and fear for a character. We want to feel as if something might happen, and feel tension about the possibilities. So there are really four ingredients: a character that we like, uncertainty about what will happen, hope for desirable outcomes, and fear for undesirable outcomes. Pretty simple, really. Give us someone that we empathize with, and put them in a situation where we don't know what will happen.
So what kind of problems do we throw at our character?
John Brown suggests that there are three main types of problems in stories that he likes.
1. Danger/Threat. Something poses a significant threat to the character's happiness. We hope that the character will avoid or overcome the threat, but we fear they may not. What kind of threat? Well, life, security/well-being, relationships, meaningfulness, freedom, and possessions are obvious things that could be threatened. Take a look at John's page for more details, he describes each of these. Basically, though, someone or something threatens some aspect of the character's life. Plenty of stories focus on what happens when things go wrong, and can the character handle it?
2. Lack/opportunity. With a danger or threat, someone or something is going to take away something important to the character. Lack and opportunity problems are the other side of this -- the character has never had money, a chance, happiness... and now they might! Rags to riches, Cinderella, there are lots of stories that use this kind of problem. We like to watch someone struggled to achieve their happiness.
3. Mystery. This is a little more intellectual problem -- the puzzle, the mystery, the challenge to our curiosity. Here, the character acts as our surrogate, trying to solve the mystery. Fairly often, there are some other problems -- threats or lacks -- also involved.
Now. One of the filters for good stories is that the problems need to be hard to solve. To build the fear, worry, and uncertainty, the problem needs to be significant and hard to solve. The character has to really work to win!
John suggests that there are four things that make a problem really urgent. Basically, we want it to seem
probable -- not a long shot. Very often, stories show us several people failing, and then the main character tries. We also want it to be
immediate -- something that's going to happen soon. Time limits, ticking clocks, really help to make the problem urgent. Third, it needs to be
significant. The mugger who wants two bucks for coffee at Starbucks -- hey, toss it to him and go on. But the robber who wants every penny of your life savings? Ah, now that's serious. Make the threat significant (other discussions often talk about raising the stakes). Finally, the problem needs to be
specific. Sure, generic drugs are cheaper, but for your story, you want specific, detailed problems. Make the threat specific and tied to the character.
Okay? So you've got a problem, and you've sharpened it up so that we know it seems probable, immediate, significant, and specific. What about uncertainty? What makes things uncertain? A hard problem, limits on the characters, interference from other problems and desires... and surprises! Revelations, twists, turns. Don't let the reader go to sleep. Think about what they expect, then give it a twist. Surprise us
All right? That's a summary of John Brown's discussion of suspense and the story problem. To make the story really sizzle, look closely at the problem. It needs to be a hard problem, whether it's a threat or lack or mystery, and it needs to be urgent, because it seems likely, has a time limit that is soon, involves high stackes, and has the details that we love! Then make sure there are enough twists and turns to keep us reading.
Dramatic tension -- a reader in suspense is worth two cliffhangers?
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