Suspense is a strange thing.
It isn’t really about what happens. It’s about what might happen. The sense that something is off, that something is coming, even if nothing has unfolded yet.
That’s what I’m always trying to create in my own writing.
You can have action, even violence, on the page and still feel nothing. But a quiet scene, handled carefully, can feel almost unbearable because something underneath it isn’t right.
A look that lingers too long. A silence that stretches. A detail that doesn’t quite fit.
That’s the space I’m interested in. Not constant noise or forced drama, but tension that sits low and steady, just beneath the surface.
The kind that keeps the reader leaning forward without quite knowing why.
Here are five techniques I use to build that.
This reads:
- natural
- controlled
- professional
- still very much you
If you want, I can now shape the five tips so they feel equally sharp and not generic writing-advice filler.
1. Let the reader know more than the character
This is one of the simplest and most effective techniques. If your reader knows something your character does not, every decision that character makes becomes loaded. Even ordinary actions start to feel dangerous.
A character walks into a room. Fine.
A character walks into a room where the reader already knows someone is waiting for them. Completely different.
Suspense thrives on that gap in knowledge.
2. Delay the answer
We are wired to want resolution. When a question is raised, we want it answered quickly. Suspense comes from resisting that instinct. You introduce a question, then you hold it back. Not endlessly, but long enough for the tension to build.
- Who was on the phone?
- Why was the door open?
- What did they see that made them stop?
The key is to give just enough to keep the reader engaged, without closing the loop too soon.
3. Use the environment
Suspense is not just created through plot. It lives in setting as well. Think about how a place can work against your character.
A quiet street that feels too quiet.
A house where something is slightly out of place.
A familiar setting that suddenly feels unfamiliar.
You are not just describing where your character is. You are shaping how it feels to be there.
4. Keep the stakes personal
It is easy to think bigger equals better. Higher stakes. Larger consequences.
But suspense is often strongest when it feels personal. A global threat is abstract. A single person in immediate danger is not. When the reader connects emotionally to what could be lost, the tension sharpens. It becomes harder to look away.
5. Control the pace
Suspense is not about constant speed. In fact, slowing down at the right moment can increase tension.
Stretch a moment out. Focus on small details. Let the reader sit in the uncertainty.
A hand hovering over a door handle.
A pause before answering a question.
Footsteps that stop just outside the room.
These are the moments where suspense breathes. If you rush through them, you lose that pressure.
For me, suspense is always the part that feels the most instinctive and the most difficult to explain. I know when it is there because I feel it as I write. That slight tightening. That sense that something is about to tip. And if I do not feel it, I know the reader will not either. So I go back. I slow it down. I take something away. I hold something back. Until it feels like the scene is carrying more than it is saying. That is usually when it starts to work.
Best wishes,
Gail