Writing A PageTurner - FAQ

A few days ago, one of the students in my fiction workshop sent THIS LINK to the others in the class, saying 'It echos everything Vicki taught us this past semester.' 

Yep, but when Lee Child, # 1 NYT best-selling author of the Jack Reacher series (coming soon to a Big Screen near you,) when LEE CHILD talks about building suspense, people listen. And what he has to say is really useful for writers and story tellers of every sort. 

You see, building suspense isn't just for thrillers and crime fiction -- it's an invaluable technique for any sort of story telling -- novels, films, plays, even some songs (why did Billie Jo Mc Allister jump off the Tallahatchee Bridge?)  whenever the writer wants to keep the reader's attention focused in a world where there are so many diversions.

Lee suggests that the writer keep throwing in intriguing questions so that the reader will keep turning pages in search of an answer. Big questions -- who killed Col. Mustard? -- for sure. But don't overlook the little questions -- the strange scar on Prunella's shapely ankle, for instance. The writer might say at once that the scar was the result of an encounter with a wombat -- and of, course that raises its own questions. But why not leave the wombat out, for the moment  -- perhaps Prunella is oddly evasive when asked about the scar -- and then, when some chapters later she admits to the wombat, a whole new set of questions arise for the reader to pursue.

There is suspense in every sort of fiction -- Will the two lovers eventually find one another? Will the aspiring artist be recognized? Will the monomaniacal captain kill the white whale? And who was that masked man anyway?

It's not enough though, just to pose a lot of questions. The protagonist needs to be likeable and/or charismatic enough that the reader cares what happens to him or her. (Jack Reacher is, I think, both.) Once the reader is  invested in a character, those unanswered questions will keep said reader turning pages late into the night. (Maybe now I'll find out who Luke's father is... )

But what happens when all the questions are answered?  A page-turner of a book is great fun but is it a book you'll re-read? I know the idea of re-reading is anathema to lots of people but  my idea of a Really Good Book is one I'll return to, as one returns to a favorite piece of music, again and again. The excitement of racing through the story to discover what happens gives way to the leisurely pleasure of enjoying  a world already known.

I have many books that I've read to tatters, books that I've almost memorized, books that hold no surprises. I know that (SPOILER ALERT) Elizabeth Bennet will marry Mr. Darcy, that Camelot can't endure. I know who stole the silver cow creamer, why someone tried to kill Jim Chee with a bit of bone, how Narnia will end...

In these well loved books there are no unanswered questions and no tightly-ratcheted suspense to keep me flipping pages -- there are only wonderful characters I want to hang out with, fully realized settings that feel real to me, and the sheer delight of living again in a very particular time and place.

Now, that's what I call writing!