Just a quick post today on a discovery I made with my manuscript. One of the revisions I made to my Quilt or Innocence manuscript ended up making a big difference to the plot.
It involved a scene with a particular suspect who was behaving in a suspicious manner. The questions that arose from the scene were: why was the suspect behaving in this manner? What was she trying to hide?
A couple of chapters later, I had an answer for the reader. I showed the sleuth and the reader exactly why the suspect was behaving in that way.
The revealing moment did, actually, also serve to spur some additional questions about the suspect and the suspect’s motive…so it had originally served a purpose.
But I found when I revised the section and delayed answering the question I’d posed in the story, the tension was increased.
When I finally did reveal the answer to the question, the scene had a more climactic feel to it. Plus, I think it will make the reader scramble a little toward the end…so, if that’s true, then this must mean that…
I’ve used this trick before in my writing, but usually for something either really big or a small subplot that I’d woven into the book. But I liked making this change for a medium-sized plot element…because, in doing so, it actually made the plot point bigger and more important.
The only thing to be careful with, if you’re making this change in the revision process and not as you’re writing your draft, is that you clean up any references to the revealed answer in between the question asked and the problem solved. I was surprised how much I’d mentioned it. Still, it’s a pretty easy change to make.
What kinds of questions are you raising in your story? When are you answering them? Can you delay answering them for a bigger effect?
Though we write different genres, the need to keep the suspense sounds like it’s almost identical. I’ve noticed that after the first draft is complete, I rearrange things so that the big plot points are revealed much later, so that the tension is that much deeper. It’s almost like I can’t wait to get to those big “reveals” the first time around myself!
Good post, Elizabeth. :)
This is one of the things I need to learn to do more. I’m fine when it comes to keeping secrets that will be revealed over the course of a planned series, but when it comes to secrets revealed within the one book I’m often in too much of a hurry to pull back the curtain.
In the MG WIP I’m working on, I’m stumped in this way. I keep asking myself who really cares and why do they care?
Your post has freed me. I will now keep building the action and keep looking for the reason. This is hard for me–the control queen.
Thanks, Elizabeth.
Teresa
Elizabeth – It’s simply human nature to want questions answered and curiosity satisfied. So it makes complete sense that a story is more compelling if the questions don’t get answered until a little later on in the story. So long as the reader gets answers, and they’re realistic, it’s a really effective strategy. I can’t say I’ve consciously used it, but now that I think of it, things have turned out that way in my writing just simply because it made for a more absorbing story.
I totally agree with the delayed tension release. As an editor I cringe when an author “gives away” what could be a huge tension builder with OPOV-author-narrative interjections like, say, at the end of a chapter, writing: “Little did Tom know it would be his last meal.”
Things like that drive me nuts. But good post and advice here, Liz!
Good technique, but if I see you doing it, you irritate me. More than once in the years I’ve been reading, I’ve had the thought, “The author’s putting this off to keep me reading. She’s manipulating me.” Louise Penny does that sometimes.
In my morning revisions today I had a very similar revelation. I saw that in one chapter I was introducing both a conflict, and its solution. I decided to delay the resolution for a later chapter, thereby increasing the tension.
Luckily in my case there is nothing to delete from the text if I do this. I hope it works!
I try to find a balance with this. As a reader, I get irritated if it takes TOO long for various plot points to be revealed – I much prefer gradual revelations over the course of the story, one question answered, another one raised, rather than everything building toward the end. And since that’s my personal preference, I tend to write that way, but that does mean that I have to work against a tendency to reveal too much early on, which strips all the tension away and leaves the reader bored. Oh, that balancing act!
That’s a big think I notice when critting – sometimes the answers are revealed too quickly. But finding that balance is tricky.
Stacy–It’ll work for a variety of genres, I think. And I know what you mean! It’s like we can’t wait to do our big reveal. :)
Paul–I think it comes naturally to writers to reveal early because we *know* the answer as soon as the question is raised…so it might almost seem to us as if we *are* waiting to reveal it.
Ellis–Might as well string it out a little bit! Glad it was an easy change for you.
Journaling Woman–I’m a control queen, too. :) Build that action and tension and conflict and see if your protagonist and other characters crack (might give some answers to you in the process.)
Louise–It’s a real balance—we don’t want to frustrate the reader, we don’t want to bore the reader! I’d say that as long as other things in the plot were getting resolved and we’re not leading the reader too far down a rabbit hole, we should be in good shape.
Margot–A good reminder that we need to make sure we don’t *forget* completely to do the reveal at the end (if we’re delaying it) and that all the loose ends are tied up.
Laura–It’s a little tricky because we don’t want to do it with *all* the plot points…the readers won’t feel like they’re making progress in the story at all. So we have to pick and choose.
Really good questions to ask when writing mystery and in my case, romantic suspense.
I’m writing in a different genre, but I really learned my lesson about delay of tension when I wrote my last novel. In my latest, all of the major questions (Does the hero love his wife? What is he hiding? Is there going to be a war?) are answered almost at the end of the novel.
It was difficult to keep up, but worth it.
The Old Silly–Which is another reason why you’re a great editor, Marvin!
Olene–I bet the payoff is huge.:)
Joe–Right…we wouldn’t want the readers to see the strings. Good point. I think I’ve seen Louise do it, but I’ll forgive her anything because I love Inspector Gamache so much. :)
Timing is the most important thing any of us can learn.
We need to consider revealing some things earlier as well as later. Give the audience some things to mull while hiding others. After all if you keep everything until the end, the story is just a fog — and boring to the reader. Hitchcock was a great one to study in terms of revelations which drive the story forward.
But I particularly like the way you describe the effect of a late revelation — the way the reader’s mind can race while the characters race to the conclusion. That’s what we’re all looking for in a great ending.
Hi Elizabeth .. I can see that making revisions will need (extra) care .. checking other cross references etc ..
Seems like everyone has enjoyed the posting .. and Joanne is free! Cheers Hilary
You always give such excellent advice. The worse thing ya can do is reveal too soon when you’ve got the readers attention ya need to build from there. I love surprise twists and turns myself.
You have yourself a marvelously blessed and beautiful day sweetie!! :o)
Love this tip! I don’t write suspense, but I love adding more tension to my scenes. Since I write romance, I have to keep the reader guessing if the hero and heroine will be able to overcome their obstacles. I’m noting this one–thanks!
I can see me messing up a lot by changing something later on to answer questions. Although I guess I’ve already done that, especially with my next book.
Elizabeth – that is what I am finding in my YA paranormal mystery from the comments for me to revise – I’ve given too much too quickly and haven’t built the tension. It’s all good though because that’s the way I write and I know when I fix it up it will be better. I hope to have this one finished soon – so I can get back to my state stories. Thanks for sharing with us – E :)
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Wonderful post! I just found your site and am looking forward to exploring!
This is a dicey thing for a pantster like myself. But it’s great advice all around. Readers love tension.
I find it difficult not to spill the beans when writing. Maybe that’s why I revise / rewrite so much! But my Betas and crit partners were awesome at keeping me on my toes.
Hilary–It takes a little extra work, that’s for sure. Thanks~!
Nezzy–Thanks! And thanks for coming by. :) Hope you’ve been well.
Julia–Lots of possibilities for romantic suspense for sure–especially with the parallel plots that genre has.
Jill–I think it would work really well with romance, too. :)
The Daring Novelist–I love Hitchcock! Master of suspense, for sure.
I liked the effect of the delay in this particular case…because the plot point wasn’t a big one, but grew bigger when I delayed the reveal.
Alex–It’s not too bad, but it basically involves a reread pass, just looking for the mentions.
Elysabeth–It’s a pretty easy fix to make–it’s just cleaning up the old strands. But the things that need to be deleted are quickly found during a reread.
forensics4fiction–Thanks so much!
Kim–I think I’m always eager to explain things to readers…it’s an urge I need to try to resist!
Excellent post. This is something I’m thinking about now as I plan my next book. I’d like to have bigger reveals later on, maybe some smaller or medium-sized reveals earlier. This was a mammoth task with my first book, as I originally gave away two many answers too early and then had to replant them and fix the various mentions I’d sprinkled along the way. It took many rereadings, and I’ve probably still missed a few.
One tool I’m using now that I hope will make this task easier is Scrivener. It allows me to tag phrases, clues, any bits of text with a label so that I can find all the mentions more easily later on. Then I can adjust/move them as necessary.
This is such a great tip, and one I need to practice! I want to create tension without frustrating the reader. But I love it when I read a book where the writer handled this beautifully.
You’re right, Elizabeth, delaying can be very effective. I think it was Wilkie Collins who said an author should ‘make ’em wait..’, and he wasn’t a bad judge.
Toby–I’m *definitely* going to think about this as I write this next book. It will be a lot easier to delay the answers as I’m writing the book instead of having to clean up references later. :)
Julie–I think, as another commenter pointed out, if we have *other* things revealed for the reader, it will make this easier to pull off and less frustrating for someone reading the book. It’s a balance, for sure!
Martin–No, he knew what he was talking about! By the way, recently finished “Cipher Garden” on Kindle…loved it. :)