The Nighttime Novelist by Joseph Bates

Author:Joseph Bates [Bates, Joseph]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-59963-206-3
Publisher: F+W Media
Published: 2010-07-14T16:00:00+00:00

CRAFTING & MAINTAINING SUSPENSE

The success of your second act—if we’re to be perfectly honest—really depends upon your ability to toy with the reader. You begin the act with a difficult obstacle for your protagonist to overcome, which he does, offering the character (and reader) a moment of release. Then comes the next obstacle, which is more difficult than the previous and has higher stakes, making it seem more unlikely that the character will, or can, overcome it. And yet, against the odds, he does, and again the reader feels release, the momentary hope that everything’s going to be okay. But the reprieve lasts only until the next conflict presents itself, which seems even more difficult to overcome, leading to ever-greater release (perhaps even relief) when the hero does. Which is of course short-lived, because here comes the next obstacle, and this one …

This is the momentum required of a strong second act, the constant forward motion created by ever-building suspense and release, moving us closer to the book’s inevitable conclusion. Let’s take a closer look at how suspense shapes and propels Act II.

On the Subject

The suspense of a novel is not only in the reader, but in the novelist, who is intensely curious about what will happen to the hero.

–Mary McCarthy

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