Surprise! Suspense and the Unexpected

Not too long ago, I talked about the new Vella serial format and how one of the traits of a serial is to end each episode with some kind of cliffhanger to keep pulling readers along. But any novel can profit from the delight we take in not knowing what’s going to happen next. Especially when what does happen is completely unforeseen!

Let me spin out a few thoughts for your reflection on the related qualities of suspense and the unexpected. They make any book more memorable and keep the reader coming back for more.

What’s next?

Nobody needs convincing of the nail-biting thrill involved in not knowing what’s going to happen next. (Somehow it’s more fun in a novel than in real life!) Whole genres revolve around a problem that must be solved by a certain time or else. Will the protagonist disarm the time bomb before it blows up the White House? Will the defenders hold off enemy troops until reinforcements arrive? Will the villain manage to kill again before the police can find him?

Building that suspense layer by layer is a fine art. The reader watches the stakes mount, the complications pile up until it seems the worst is inevitable. Then, against all odds, our hero pulls it off. The reader crumples into a sweaty lump of relief, maybe not exactly surprised—we’re too conditioned to expect a satisfying ending—but almost giddy with the pleasure of a nearly impossible task successfully concluded. It’s so against all statistical likelihood that, yes, you could call it surprise. In real life, you’d be gobsmacked.

There are many ways to build toward such a surprise conclusion, and the serial favorite, the cliffhanger, is one of them. Let that chapter end at a point that leaves the reader wondering what’s next. Leave just enough unsaid that the reader’s never 100% sure of what’s coming.

The present success of the unreliable narrator novel is evidence of how successful that technique can be. We think we know exactly what’s going on, then suddenly we’re no longer so confident.

The mystery staple, the red herring, is another trick for confusing the reader so that the ultimate reveal is unexpected. Although building suspense and building in a surprise are not identical processes, they can work together to make your novel a breathlessly spellbinding one.

Not what was expected!

I recently read a book that ended with more surprises than I think I’ve ever experienced in a novel. Was it a supernatural thriller? A psychological thriller? A murder mystery? Was the point-of-view character crazy? Dishonest? Deceived? Was there a plot, as she suspected, or was it a simple accident that killed her son?

Not only did the suspense build by the slow leak of information that began to undermine my expectations, but the ending blew me, the reader, out of the water. Nothing and no one turned out to be what I thought. It was wonderful! The author used cliffhangers, unreliability, and red herrings with great skill to pull me along until I wanted nothing in life but to finish that novel.

Michel Bussi’s book was a great example of how two kinds of novelistic hooks can work together to up the excitement of any writing. Make the reader beg to know the solution—then give them one they never expected!