Danger Lurking in the Fog by Greg Messel
DANGER LURKING IN THE FOG
By
Greg Messel
Many people enjoy reading as they go to bed at night. I had a
friend who said she loves to be reading a book that makes her anxious to go to
bed each night.
I’ve also had that experience while commuting to work on a bus. I
loved riding the bus because I got to trade reading for driving in heavy
traffic--a good swap on any day. However, there were times when I was at a
suspenseful point in the book I was reading and I could see that my stop was
just a few blocks away.
“Nooooooo! I can’t stop now,” I would think.
That is one of the great joys of reading and it’s one of the
premier goals of a writer, especially when your novel is a mystery.
I am now working on a series of mystery novels with recurring
characters and generating suspense is one of the greatest challenges. I’ve
always thought that the unknown is more threatening that the known. It is true
in building suspense in your story as well.
When you are alone in your bed late at night and hear strange noises
it immediately builds “suspense” in your life.
Upon investigation you could discover that something harmless is causing the noise.
However, as you lie in bed your imagination runs wild about what it could be.
Generally, you imagine the most terrifying of possibilities to be the source of
the strange noise.
As you get out of your bed to try to find the noise in the
darkness, there is true suspense and terror. We should keep this in mind as we
build suspense in our writing.
It’s not necessarily the shark attack but the anxiety that comes
when a shark fin suddenly appears in the water and has not yet been sighted by
the protagonist.
There are a few things that can be done to amp up the suspense.
One is don’t take it too easy on your main characters--put them in peril. The
stakes need to be continually raised so that there is some urgency. Nothing
builds suspense like a race against the clock. It helps to have an powerful,
ruthless villain that you are convinced will stop at nothing. This adds to the
sense of foreboding.
As an example, in the upcoming second installment in the mystery
series--Deadly Plunge--the two main characters are investigating a creepy old
house. The house has signs of a lot of strange activities but at the time it is
unoccupied. It is a multi level old house and I established that it has very
creaky stairs between the levels. This sets up a chance to build suspense
later.
As the characters are quietly searching through the house for
clues, they hear creaking sounds on the stairs a couple of levels below.
Someone is coming! Who could it be? Are the protagonists in the story in
danger? What will happen next?
The main characters were nervous about poking around in the
strange house. That last thing they wanted to hear was footsteps on the
stairs. As the footsteps get closer and
louder, the protagonists must decide what action to take--and quickly.
The creaky stairs provide what the great Alfred Hitchcock
referred to as a “McGuffin.” A “McGuffin” is a plot element that drives the
story. Sometimes Hitchcock used “McGuffins” as a diversionary tactic to throw
us off of the trail of his mystery.
I rewrote the entire last half of my new book “Deadly
Plunge.” I did so with the intent to
generate more suspense. For instance, I put chapter breaks in different places
in the story which would leave the reader hanging.
There is a plot in “Deadly Plunge” where the main female
character, Amelia Ryan is being stalked by a creepy guy who has become obsessed
with her. His intent is to kidnap her.
In this case, the reader knows this stalker is after the female
protagonist but the main characters don’t. This adds to the suspense because
they are doing things which will--unbeknownst to the main characters--put
themselves in danger.
I concluded one chapter with the kidnapper watching Amelia’s
bedroom window waiting for the light to go out so he can strike. One another
occasion Amelia is taking French lessons and listening to tapes through a set
of headphones. This makes her vulnerable to the attacker as he creeps closer to
her without detection.
In “The Last of the Seals” the main characters, Sam Slater and
Amelia Ryan, are being secretly observed and tracked by some mysterious
figures. Sam is still uncertain about why these people are stalking him and his
girlfriend.
One night, as Sam is running down a pier in the fog to escape one
peril, there is something in the fog that he fails to see. It is two men
sitting in a car watching him. They are obscured by the shadows and fog. What
do they want and what happens next?
Fog is wonderful. San Francisco fog practically becomes a
character in the story. Fog conceals people and events and prevents a clear
picture of what’s occurring. It adds to the creepy feeling where at any moment
something can suddenly appear out of the fog.
It is exhilarating to read a story like that and it is exciting
to write a suspenseful story, especially when it works.
One of the tag lines I’m using to promote my book sums up the
feeling I’m going for in my mystery novel.
“Danger lurks just around the corner in foggy San
Francisco.”
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Visit Greg’s website at www.gregmessel.com.
thank's infonya
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