The first chapter in a suspense novel is the most important. You want to introduce your characters, create sympathy for the, hint at the stakes or danger, and hook the reader to turn the page. How do we do this?
I’m going to apply the questions from yesterday to my WIP today.
Below is the link to the first scene of chapter One of Limelight, a novel I wrote for MBT teaching purposes.
For your FYI, here is the Premise:
She’s a movie star with a cause – fighting to stop human trafficking. In fact, she’s gone far as to write, produce, fund and star in an independent film about the horrors of human trafficking. Except – someone doesn’t want it shown, and has bad-mouthed the movie onto Hollywood’s black list. Not only that, but she’s been publically dumped by her mega-star boyfriend, and her finances are in the red. She just wants to get away and figure out what to do next – take the action-flick, mega-bucks next role, or fight to get her indy film shown on the big screen. Is she actress, or activist?
He’s a park ranger who just wants to stay out of trouble. He’s seen enough of it, thanks, while serving as an Army Ranger in Afghanistan. More than that, his actions haunt him, and he just wishes he could break free of the memories of his own actions. He’s trying hard, from working with the youth at his church, to delivering meals on wheels to world war two veterans. He’s even agreed to keep an eye on his talent-manager brother’s high-faulting celebrity, although the last thing he needs is a high-maintenance movie star hiding out on park property, treating him as if he’s the butler. It would help if she actually believed the threats against her life…
When threat becomes attempt, can he find the hero he’s tried to forget? And can she stop playing a role, and decide just who she wants to be? It’ll take facing their mistakes, and holding onto truth to outwit a killer in this big screen story of secrets and revenge.
Let’s return to yesterday’s first chapter questions and apply them to this story:
1. What situation, as the story begins, is most compelling, most sympathetic?
I want to portray Kenzie as a normal person – actresses can often feel so untouchable – so I put her in a place every person dreads – being the one on the dumped side of a breakup. And hers is very public. Also, I layered in the sense that she is just a down-home girl as she drives him and orders banana crème pie and licks the box with her fingers.
2. How can you weave in the danger of the suspense, or hint at the stakes of the story.
Because this is a romantic suspense, I needed weave in the sense of danger – that someone is after her. I hinted that she was involved in a human trafficking documentary, and then of course, add in the decoy of the elephant which turns into a bomb at the end of the chapter. Someone is clearly gunning for her.
3. What storyworld location can you use to create a sense of danger/suspense?
Her Hollywood home isn’t necessarily a dangerous place, so I used strong nouns and verbs to create a sense of danger:
The lights sprayed down from the hovering palm
The light pressed away the shadows of the main room, glaring
dark bank of windows
misshapen mass
By inserting verbs and nouns that conjure up a sense of chaos, I was able to turn this normally safe world into a sinister place.
4. How can you end the scene with something worse, even the inciting incident that will propel your story quickly into the Noble Quest?
This scene ends with a bomb exploding in her living room – and ignites the suspense plot.
Chapter 1, Scene 1 Kenzie
The next scene – Luke’s (the hero) first scene is posted here at www.mybooktherapy.ning.com – Read it and then, for practice, answer the questions to analyze and apply them to your own stories.
See you next week when we look at Chapter 2!
Happy Writing!
Susie May
*****
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