Overuse of Suspense

            Lately I’ve been seeing a trend in a lot the shows I’ve been watching. It is the overuse of suspense.

            Suspense is an incredible tool for any form of entertainment. It’s what keeps the audience on the edge of their seats, engaged, and coming back for more. However, like all tools, it must be used in moderation.

            Unfortunately, the TV world is run on ratings – to get those ratings, as many people as possible need to be watching the show. What’s the easiest way to get people watching? Suspense. Putting a cliff-hanger at the end of every episode is a sure-fire way to keep the audience interested – and talking about – the show until the following week or season.

            But then the suspense begins to lose its effectiveness. The audience starts to expect it and not only does it stop compelling them to come back as much, it becomes... well, boring. Predictable. The moment everything is seeming to work out, the audience already knows that something terrible is about to happen. The urgent desire to find out what happens next is replaced by an exhausted, “What, this again?”

            When I was learning about suspense for my writing, I picked up one very important tip: give the audience a break sometimes. It is essential when working with suspense, because otherwise the suspense has the opposite effect from what was intended. I good tip for making a plot interesting is to chase your character up a tree and then throw rocks at them, but there’s one very important thing to remember: sometimes, the character has to succeed. If there are no victories, there’s no hope – and hope in impossible situations is what really keeps the audience engaged.

            The other thing to remember is that suspense can be subtle. Everything can turn out well at the end of an episode or chapter and the audience will still come back for more if there are questions left unanswered. There doesn’t always have to be a cataclysmic, plot-wrenching disaster.

            So, use suspense, but use it in all of its forms. Apply it with a brush, not a roller.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her life coaching website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Twisty Plot Expectations and Predictions

            I have frequently frustrated my wife with the ability to predict plot twists that she never saw coming. Sometimes we’d be watching a TV show and I’d say “Oh, this person is going to use that piece of information they just got to their advantage later” and when she asked how I knew it, I’d say it was a momentary facial expression of the actor. In Frozen, I knew who the surprise villain was the moment he came on screen. When asked how, I was able to say that the situation was just far too convenient – plus (and this is the part Colleen hates the most) he happened to have the same sideburns as some villains in Tangled.

            There is far more to it than the subtle clues, though. Stories have arcs that they follow, there are certain patterns that are expected. If those patterns aren't followed, the story doesn't resonate with us as well – or the outcome is too obvious for the audience. Funnily enough, that's exactly what makes them easier to predict.

            Surprisingly, I couldn't put words to all of these patterns, but I do have an instinct for them. If I pointed to a specific one, I could tell you why it’s important to have. Other than that, I just “know” the route a story is supposed to take – a very useful talent for a writer.

            In fact, that very thing happened when Colleen and I went to see Big Hero 6 this week. Colleen and I pretty much had the theatre to ourselves (you know that thing Sheldon from Big Bang Theory does in theatres? She did that), so we happily whispered out plot predictions to each other. Who was it behind the mask? We each had a theory on the twist, but it wasn't until after we found out which of us was right that I put the thought into exactly why the one character was better than the other, specifically that the wrong option had too minor a role (sorry if I'm a bit vague – I'm trying to avoid spoilers. It was an excellent movie and the short at the beginning was amazing).

            So, you might wonder what enjoyment I can get out of stories if I can predict the outcome. Does it lessen my enjoyment that the plot twists don’t surprise me? Quite the opposite. For me, I thoroughly enjoy predicting the outcomes based on the evidence presented by the story teller. Foreshadowing is important in stories because, without it, there is no evidence to support the plot twist. As a result, I feel that if the creator of a story did a really good job, I should be able to predict the outcome.

            Now I just need to hone my skills so I can predict the future. After all, life is just a really long story, right?

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.