Some Writing Tips for Myself

I watched a musical the other day and I’d like to apply some of the techniques they used to create suspense and emotional investment to my own creative writing.

So here are the tips before I forget them:

On Creating Suspense

• Something abnormal happens and then is unexplained
• Something is brought up but then the character with the answer(s) refuses to reveal it
• The audience knows a character’s action will cause conflict and is waiting for the order shoe to drop

In short, you can use abnormality, refused revelations, and/or conflict to create suspense.

On Creating Emotional Investment

You need to show why something is great for threat of losing it to feel high stakes. One way to do this is to show how that thing is a bright spot for the character when they’re in dark times. If it’s something they’ve already had to fight for, losing it seems extra unfair, so we root for them more to keep it.