Friday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

21 FAST HACKS TO FUEL YOUR STORY WITH SUSPENSE

By: Elizabeth Sims

Occasionally I talk to school children about writing. I begin by asking them how many sheets of paper it takes to write a novel. They guess, and suddenly they very much want to know the answer. No matter what their guesses are, they’re always shocked and horrified when I unveil the foot-high stack of handwritten yellow pages that make up the rough draft of one of my novels. They’ve just experienced suspense and a payoff in its simplest form.

When I ask what you need to write a story of suspense, inevitably one kid yells, “Put in a bad guy!”

Good advice, if obvious. The fact is, stories in all genres need suspense: Readers must stick with you to the end, and suspense is the foremost element that keeps them turning pages. Likewise, when you’re trying to write your way through to that teetering stack of a finished draft, a quick injection of suspense is a great way to keep your story’s engine fueled. Suddenly, you’ll very much want to write on to find the answer.

Here are a bouquet of ways to do just that, beyond the excellent suggestion of putting in a bad guy.

1. Point a finger.

Mary Renault’s historical novel The Persian Boy starts with a cataclysm: The death and destruction of the protagonist’s family and home. Before dying, his father screams the name of his betrayer. Well, guess who the Persian boy will meet up with later … much later?

This powerful scenario can work to create and maintain suspense in any genre. Any kind of betrayal will do: financial ruin, a broken heart, a lost opportunity.

2. Pull a false alarm.

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Read the full article HERE!

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If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

1. How Successful Authors Use Twitter To Promote Their Brand http://ow.ly/MkJ6u
2. Seriously Write: Titles—Agony or Epiphany? by Gail Kittleson http://ow.ly/MkORW
3. How to Find a Literary Agent for Your Book | Jane Friedman http://ow.ly/MkP1X
4. Writing and Marketing: Goal Setting: It’s Not About Ideas – It’s About Making Ideas Happen http://ow.ly/MkPc1
5. Seriously Write: Social Media Tools to Help Manage Your Online Life, Part Two by Nicole Miller http://ow.ly/MkPkp
6. Thinking Beyond the Book to Tell Your Story | Jane Friedman http://ow.ly/MkPwJ
7. Q&A: Quality vs Commerciality - Michael Hauge's Story Mastery http://ow.ly/MkPJq
8. Anne R. Allen's Blog: New Hope for the Dead: Fiction Rehab And The Magic Of The Makeover http://ow.ly/MkQsf
9. The Blog: Finding Authors: The Importance of Establishing an Online Licensing System for Copyrighted Works http://ow.ly/MkQE5
10. Writer Unboxed » 7 Secrets of Highly Persistent Writers http://ow.ly/MkQM7
11. The Mystery Writer's Toolbox http://ow.ly/MkVNM Questions. Motives. Clues. Red herrings. Villains. Suspense.
12. The Book Designer — Practical Advice to Help Self-Publishers Build Better Books http://ow.ly/MkW7k
13. 21 Fast Hacks to Fuel Your Story With Suspense | WritersDigest.com http://ow.ly/MkWO0
14. HIGH CONCEPT… the secret to screenwriting success? Screenwriting Staffing catches up w/ Rob Tobin! | The Backstory http://ow.ly/MkXss
15. How to Write About Your Family… Without Getting Disowned http://ow.ly/MkXLy
16. Fiction University: The Agony and Ecstasy of Writing Trilogies http://ow.ly/MkXSg
17. Story Climax: Forcing Characters to Move Forward | Jami Gold, Paranormal Author http://ow.ly/MkY6c
18. How to Set Up a Facebook Page for Business | Social Media Examiner http://ow.ly/MkYaw

Happy writing and running, Kathy