What is so dang hard about writing suspense? We know suspense when we experience it. When our heartbeat accelerates; when our eyes can’t read fast enough. Suspense activates several emotions. So why can’t we write it with ease? We’re authors, we should be able to produce a scene that sizzles and that the reader remembers long after the book has been read. Through this workshop we hope to answer your questions and help you capture that sense of anticipation, requiring your reader to lose sleep, miss appointments, and neglect the dog, just because they must read one more page.

Our goal is to touch upon all aspects of fiction writing, providing insight for adding suspense to each. Plot, Setting, Characters, and Scenes, all play a part in creating and heightening suspense. We cannot apply suspense techniques without having a clear idea of the ingredients that swirl the mix into tension and creating suspense.

Overview:  

This lesson taps into the participants' desire to ratchet up the tension and conflict in their writing and, at the same time, helps them discover how to add suspense in story elements (e.g., character, setting, plot) through examples and practical writing exercises.   

Objectives:

* To become more proficient in portraying suspense, heightening suspense to intrigue fiction readers
* Examine ways to enhance our work through developing conflict between characters, in plots and within relationships
* Explore the basics, the sources and examples of suspense.

Participants will:

* Develop a better understanding of suspense elements and strengthen critical thinking skills through a hands-on workshop examining the story's setting, characters, plot, and hook
* Recognize descriptive word choices (i.e. verbs) and details that contribute to the suspense story and apply those elements to their own writing
* Respond and make personal connections to a story by completing writing exercises
* Receive valuable one-on-one critiquing of their submittals.

Instructional Plan

Lesson One: What is suspense? What is the crisis/conflict?

Lesson Two: What is a hook, a blurb, a tagline?  

Lesson Three: Why do I love/hate that character?

Lesson Four: How much do I put in and when is it too much?

Lesson Five:  Where do I get suspense story ideas?

Lesson Six: Creating suspense scenarios.

Lesson Seven:  Evaluation and wrap up.

December 6, 2010 through December 19, 2010

This workshop will be conducted via a Yahoo! email loop.  Email invitations will be sent 48 hours prior to the beginning of the workshop.

Just register for the workshop and complete the payment process via PayPal.  The cost is $10.00 for FFnP members and $20.00 for non-FFnP members.  Payment is due at the time of registration.

JD (Dave) Webb resides in Illinois with his wife (42years in Dec 2009 and counting) and their toy poodle, Ginger, losing all family votes 2 to 1. Dave served in the Security Service of the Air Force as a Chinese linguist and weather analyst in Viet Nam and the Philippines prior to spending 25 years in corporate management. A company purge promoted him to cobbler and he owned a shoe repair and sales shop for 11 years. During these careers he wrote short stories and suppressed an urge to write a novel.  After making a conscious decision to live at the poverty level, those novels began forcing their way out. 

Becoming a full time author in 2002, Dave has garnered several awards. A short story called The Key to Christmas placed third in the 2006 La Belle Lettre literary contest. His first novel Shepherd’s Pie won a publisher’s Golden Wings Award for excellence in writing. His second novel Moon Over Chicago was a top ten finisher in the 2008 Preditors and Editors Poll in the mystery category and was a finalist in the prestigious 2008 Eppie awards by the Electronic Publishing Internet Connection. He is also the Owner and Moderator of the Publishing and Promoting Yahoo group with almost 900 international members.  

Pepper Smith discovered a love for storytelling at age 8, and began writing mysteries with a school friend at age 9.  That lifelong obsession with the genre led to the three novels in the Patty O'Donnell series.  Blood Money, Eppie Award finalist Rio Star, and Reef Runner, are coming soon from Mundania Press.  The Patty O'Donnell short mystery, "The Uncle Hunt", is available as a free download.

Pepper volunteers as a suspense instructor at the Muse Online Writers Conference, held in October every year since 2006.  She is also a singer, musician, artist, and photographer.

She lives in Arkansas with her husband, son, and two cats.