Writing Suspense: A Bit Like Brewing a Potion (Patience Required)
Suspense is a curious little critter. It doesn’t barge in through the front door shouting. No. It lurks. It scratches quietly at the window. Waiting. Patiently. It sits at the back of the reader’s mind whispering, What if? and What now? Suspense is what turns an okay book into an unputdownable one. It keeps readers up long past their bedtime, saying, “Oh go on… just one more chapter,” even though they know full well they’re lying… (guilty!)
So how do you write it? How do you keep readers on edge without frustrating them? Okay, let’s have a look…
1. Begin with a Whisper, Not a Scream
Good suspense begins quietly, usually with a question that’s just intriguing enough to catch your attention.
Take Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier for example. Atmosphere, then action. “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” From there, questions bloom: What happened at Manderley? Why can’t she go back? What’s haunting her memories?
Suspense isn’t about instant answers, instead it’s about asking the right questions and drawing readers deeper with every page.
2. Characters First, Chaos Later
Readers don’t worry about danger unless they care about the person facing it and suspense thrives in empathy. So if your character is fretting then your reader likely is too.
In The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, we spend much of the novel wondering if we can even trust the narrator. Her flaws, her drinking, her isolation, her self-doubt, it draws us in, and when she says something’s wrong, even if no one else believes her, we do. Fragility, not fireworks!
Make your characters human first, then let the shadows gather.
3. Withhold, But Be Fair
Don’t mix up suspense for confusion, because that it is not. Nobody wants random plot twists thrown at them like confetti. You have to give readers a trail of breadcrumbs and then make them follow them in the dark.
The different perspectives of Nick and Amy in Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn are full of contradictions. Again and again the reader suspects that someone is lying but who? Flynn reveals just enough in each chapter to keep us on edge, never quite sure what’s real until it’s too late.
So make sure to let your reader stay half a step behind the truth. But, also, when the reveal finally comes, it has to feel earned! Not like a magician pulling a rabbit from a hat.
4. Use Setting as a Character
A good setting can easily do half of the suspense-building for you. A locked room. A town with one road in and out. A foggy moor. A power cut. Anything that isolates or unsettles can be a quiet threat.
Empty Diner – Atmosphere – Loneliness
Neon lights buzzed overhead, flickering like a dying pulse. The diner was empty except for Maria, stirring her coffee in the silence. The hum of the fridge and the ticking clock were the only signs of life, if you could call it that...
Crowded Festival – Atmosphere – Panicked
Laughter and music filled the air, fireworks burst overhead in dazzling colour, but inside Eli was drowning. The crowd pressed too close, the lights too bright, every noise a jolt to his system. He smiled, nodded, played the part, but the festive chaos only sharpened his spiraling inner panic.
In The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, the country house, the ghostly figures, the thick sense of dread, well it’s not just the children or the ghosts creating tension but the setting itself feels complicit in the madness.
Choose a place that helps tell your story. Let the weather, the sounds, the silences all work in your favour.
5. Play With Pacing
Imagine your conducting an orchestra and your is baton controlling how fast the reader’s heart beats. Indicate the tempo, the dynamics, the cues.
In Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson, the narrative resets each day as the protagonist wakes with no memory. The pacing here creates a rhythm of confusion, curiosity and fear. Short, clipped scenes ramp up tension and then slower, reflective passages lets the reader process what they’ve learned whilst wondering what’s still to be revealed.
Let your prose breathe when needed, then tighten the noose. Keep your reader just off balance.
6. The Suspense of the Ordinary
You don’t always need murder or monsters. Sometimes the best suspense takes place in familiar settings.
Take Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. It looks like a quiet book about childhood, memory and friendship, but something is off. Readers can’t put their finger on it for some time. Note that Ishiguro never shouts and instead he simply lets the unease accumulate in the gaps between what’s said and what’s not said.
A strange glance. A word left hanging. A student who disappears. It all feels perfectly ordinary, well until it doesn’t…
Suspense can be subtle so let it simmer.
7. Dialogue Can Be Dangerous
A conversation can be every bit as tense as a chase scene, you just need something to be at stake.
In Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carré, whole chapters revolve around what someone says or doesn’t say. The tension lies in reading between the lines. A pause too long, a smile too wide, a detail slightly off.
Dialogue acts as both clue and misdirection, use it to reveal information and to conceal it too.
8. Let the Reader Think They Know
Readers love to be clever so let them think they’ve guessed your ending. Then twist! Not for shock, but for satisfaction.
The murder happens right at the start in The Secret History by Donna Tartt, and the real suspense comes from the why of it. Tartt lets us think we’re ahead of the curve, then slowly let’s us in on how little we truly know.
Surprise is fleeting. Suspense is earned. It balances between assumption and truth.
9. End the Chapter Before the Answer
Cliff hanger! You’re welcome. You might be tempted to resolve a situation right away, but just stop, wait a page, or two. Let the reader suffer, nicely, they love it.
A classic example is Misery by Stephen King. In it Paul Sheldon is bedridden, alone, and at the mercy of someone who is well.. insane. And every time he thinks he’s safe, something worse happens. King stretches tension like elastic, never snapping it until the moment matters most.
Pose a question at the end of a chapter, not the beginning of the next.
10. Trust in Silence
You don’t always need dramatic music. Suspense lives in quiet too.
A phone that doesn’t ring. A door that doesn’t open. A message that doesn’t come. In We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, much of the suspense stems from what’s not happening and from what the narrator won’t say.
Trust that readers will fill the silence with all the worst things they can imagine.
Final Thought: Let It Brew
Suspense isn’t a spell you shout; it’s a potion you steep. The longer it simmers, the stronger it gets. Be patient. Trust your characters. Keep your secrets close. Let your reader lean in so far they forget to breathe.
And when you finally show them the truth, make sure it was worth the wait!!
