Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction

Suspense, like other genre fiction, is often assumed to be inferior in quality to more "serious" fiction. A suspense story can be every bit as well-wrought as any other, argues Patricia Highsmith in Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction. To show how, Highsmith focuses as much on her failures as on her successes. Amid discussions about growing ideas, story development, plotting, first and second drafts, and revisions are anecdotes from Highsmith's own career. Highsmith (Strangers on a Train) admits to editing with crayon (doing so "gives one the proper cavalier attitude"), napping on the job (it helps solve problems), and having written one "really dull" book. Though this book is slim, there are some lovely thoughts on such issues as creating a murderer-hero with "pleasant qualities," "stretch[ing] the reader's credulity," and using "as much care in depicting the face and appearance of ... main characters" as a painter would with a portrait. --Jane Steinberg

• The Talented Mr. Ripley
• Strangers on a Train
• Mastering Suspense, Structure, and Plot: How to Write Gripping Stories That Keep Readers on the Edge of Their Seats
• Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence
• The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ripley Under Ground, Ripley's Game (Everyman's Library)
• The Price of Salt
• Writing Past Dark: Envy, Fear, Distraction and Other Dilemmas in the Writer's Life
• Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book On Novel Writing You'll Ever Need
• The Blunderer
• Deep Water