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Hellooo, everybody! You guys probably didn't notice, but I tried to do something
a little bit different with my makeup today. I was going for a natural fresh-face look. Like,
slightly disheveled, but still put together. You know, subtle. I feel really pretty. Okay,
but in all seriousness, Halloween is this week. So I kinda figured that now was the ideal time to
get scary. So today I'm giving you tips for building fear and suspense in your novel. A
quick disclaimer this is a video about scary and suspenseful scenes, not the horror genre as a
whole. Some of you have asked me, “Hey Jenna, how do I write a horror story?” But I'm not a horror
writer, come on. I don't know about that life. Each genre has its own set of tips and tricks.
A lot of what I'm about to say could certainly be applied to horror, but since I don't write in that
genre, I can't give you any expert advice about it. But I do have experience with writing fear,
and I've lots of experience with writing suspense. So in the spirit of Halloween, we're gonna talk
about those two mofos right now. Number One (1): Get your reader invested in the protagonist. If
you're trying to scare the shit out of your reader, that usually means you're putting the
protagonist in danger, right? But here's the deal. Your reader isn't a danger. They're literally just
reading the book, completely safe, unless they're doing it in the middle of oncoming traffic,
which I wouldn't recommend. So the only way you're gonna get your reader scared is if they
fear for the protagonist's life. And the only way they're going to fear for the protagonist's life,
is if they care about the protagonist. Your reader needs to want that person to survive. If they
don't, then they're just gonna be reading the book like, “Oh hey. A man with a knife. Whatever.” No,
not whatever! They gotta want them to live. The way to do this is to spend time developing your
characters. Make them complex, make them flawed, make them relatable. A lot of writers I know,
especially those who write action and thrillers, they think that all they gotta do is smear blood
across the pages, and bam, done. That's not how it works. You still gotta make the reader
care about the character, or else all that blood is meaningless. Number Two (2): Don't
give it all away. You know what’s scary? Mystery, anticipation. Think about it, in every aspect of
life, not knowing is always scarier than knowing. I went for a job interview. I have no idea if I
got it, and I won't hear from them until Friday. Cue the anxiety. I'm being set up on a blind date.
I have no idea what he's into, what he looks like, if he even has a job—gosh, he could be a serial
killer. Give your reader enough information to follow the story, but never enough to have it all
figured out. People are being murdered in town. No one has any idea who or what is doing it. All we
know is that the dead bodies are covered in stab wounds and their eyes are gouged out. That sounds
pleasant, doesn't it? There's a reason that in most books and movies the bad guy doesn't reveal
himself until the end. The moment you know who the bad guy is, the moment you know his motive,
your fear just sort of withers away. The more we know, the less frightening a story becomes.
So keep your reader in the dark. Number Three (3): You as the narrator should know everything.
Just because you're keeping your reader stupid, doesn't mean you should be stupid. You should know
exactly who or what your bad guy is, and what his intentions are, period. Because nine times out of
ten, there will come a point in your story where the big bad plot is revealed, and you'll need
your reader to buy it. They should get to that point and say, “Oh my gosh, now everything makes
sense.” Not “Wait, what? That's fucking stupid.” How many times have you watched a horror movie
and felt that way? A lot. Horror movies can get away with that because it's a movie. It's quick,
mindless, entertainment. But books are not quick entertainment, nor are they mindless. Books take
time and energy to read. So if you don't develop your evil plan thoroughly and then you just drop
a big turd on your reader at the end, they're going to be extremely disappointed. So be sure
to ask yourself ahead of time, who or what is my bad guy? And why are they the bad guy? Are
they bad because of revenge? Are they bad because they're psychotic? Are they bad because they're
literally Satan? And Satan, from what I've heard, is a little abrasive. Figure all this out ahead
of time so the big reveal is impactful, and most importantly, make sense. Number Four (4): Make
the stakes clear. You don't wanna give everything away when you're building suspense. But the one
thing you definitely wanna give away is whatever the hell is at risk. Your reader needs a reason
to be afraid, so give it to them. Usually if the reader is scared, it's because the stakes are life
and death, which is unfortunate. Make sure the reader is aware of this early on so you can start
building the tension right away. In Eve the reader learns about Interlopers right from the start,
but initially they're presented as pests, they're annoying. Then in chapter three,
we learned that they're literally ripping people open and digging through their guts. Shit just
went from mildly irritating, to fucking horrific in a period of three chapters. And in my opinion,
it's not enough that your reader knows the risk. The reader needs to see the consequences of the
risk. They need to see the danger unfold. It doesn't pack the same punch to just have
a character say, “The Interlopers are dissecting people.” But for Eve to be standing in the middle
of a hospital while a guy is being ushered in who's had his chest completely torn open. Yeah,
that'll get the point across. Give your protagonist something to lose, and make it big.
Number Five (5): Get inside your body. Consider this a standard rule, no matter what emotion
you're trying to elicit. Writing a fight scene, get inside your body. Writing romance, get inside
your body. Writing suspense, oh wait what is it, oh-oh yeah, get inside your body. If you want your
reader to feel anxious or tense, you gotta do your part to evoke those emotions. If you describe the
way your character is feeling, and you describe it well, your reader will live vicariously
through the character. They will feel those feelings as well. And you have to describe it,
you can't just say, “He was scared.” (Sarcastic voice) “Oh, it's scary. So much fear, the horror.”
Put yourself in the character's position. How do you feel when you're anxious? How do you feel when
you're panicked? Think about the pounding of your heart, the heaving of your lungs, the sickness
bubbling in your gut or in your throat. Now take those feelings and put ‘em into your characters.
This will make the moment visceral. This will put the reader in the protagonist’s shoes.
Suddenly the danger doesn't feel like fiction. It feels real. Number Six (6): Don't be disgusting,
for the sake of being disgusting. Everything you write should serve a purpose, bottom line. It's
perfectly fine to introduce something horrific and revolting, but somehow moves the plot along. But
if you're just murdering people left and right, and scattering their entrails for no apparent
reason, your reader’s gonna know what's up. You're trying too hard, and it’s obvious. Sometimes less
is more. I'm not saying don't murder your characters, or don't scatter their entrails.
I'm just saying there's a time and place. That sounded really weird now that I've just said it,
but let's just go with it. If you're constantly inundating your reader with buckets of blood and
guts that serve no purpose, one of two things is gonna happen. Either they're gonna get genuinely
disgusted and not want to continue reading your book, or even worse, they're gonna get
bored and not wanna continue reading your book. It gets to a point where there's so much blood
it's not even scary anymore, it's just expected. Never make the growth factor expected. It should
always be shocking. That's the entire purpose. Lastly, Number Seven (7): Don't take yourself
too seriously. You know what’s funny? People get really fucking scared. That's why prank videos
are so popular on YouTube. We love seeing people freak out, because it's usually hilarious. So keep
this in mind when you're writing suspenseful shit. If you take everything too seriously,
it's not gonna feel authentic. I'm not saying to turn your suspenseful scene into a comedy, that is
completely ill advised. What I am saying is, be realistic when you're writing all that horrific
goodness. Say you got a squirrely character and he runs into a ghost. You wanna make the moment
really impactful, and dark, and intense. But really, you know, this kinda guy would probably
just pee his pants in that situation. Then make him pee his pants, if it’s what he’d do, go with
it. Don't look for excuses to be funny. But if a funny reaction is authentic to the moment,
let it happen. Because a grown man pissing himself is both hilarious and pretty believable in that
situation. If you tried too hard, if you force the fear and suspense, it's gonna be funny in
a completely unintentional way. But if you add genuine human reactions to the moment, some of
them are going to be funny, and you should roll with it. So those are my tips for creating fear
and suspense in your writing. Build the mystery, build the anticipation, but don't forget to get
in tune with your characters. Understand who they are as people, and how they would feel in those
tense moments. That's the key to getting your reader invested. And with that said, I wanted to
make a quick announcement. Last week I officially surpassed the 10,000 subscriber mark! Holy moly! I
wanted to thank you all so much for your support. You guys have been seriously amazing. So I decided
that next week I'm going to do a special video that's been highly requested for a really, really,
really long time. I’m finally gonna make a video answering your most popular questions about me,
which is really awkward and uncomfortable. Yay. So if you have any questions about me
and my personal writing journey, tweet them to me and they may end up in my next vlog.
On that note. I hope you all have a very fun and safe Halloween. Don't forget to subscribe
to my channel. I post new videos on Wednesdays. Eve: The Awakening is still available in ebook
and paperback on Amazon right now, So check it out. And if you have any questions, or if there's
something you'd like me to talk about in my next video, be sure to tweet me @JennaMoreci! Bye!