Elements of Fiction Writing: Conflict and Suspense

Ramp up the tension and keep your readers hooked! Inside you'll find everything you need to know to spice up your story, move your plot forward, and keep your readers turning pages. Expert thriller author and writing instructor James Scott Bell shows you how to craft scenes, create characters, and develop storylines that harness conflict and suspense to carry your story from the first word to the last.

Learn from examples of successful novels and movies as you transform your work from ho-hum to high-tension.

• Pack the beginning, middle, and end of your book with the right amount of conflict.
• Tap into the suspenseful power of each character's inner conflict.
• Build conflict into your story's point of view.
• Balance subplots, flashbacks, and backstory to keep your story moving forward.
• Maximize the tension in your characters' dialogue.
• Amp up the suspense when you revise.

• Plot & Structure: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Plot That Grips Readers from Start to Finish
• How to Write Dazzling Dialogue: The Fastest Way to Improve Any Manuscript
• The Last Fifty Pages: The Art and Craft of Unforgettable Endings
• Write Your Novel From The Middle: A New Approach for Plotters, Pantsers and Everyone in Between
• Super Structure: The Key to Unleashing the Power of Story
• Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting Dynamic Characters and Effective Viewpoints (Write Great Fiction)
• Creating Character Arcs: The Masterful Author's Guide to Uniting Story Structure (Helping Writers Become Authors)
• Character Reactions from Head to Toe (Indie Author Resources)
• Show, Don't Tell: How to write vivid descriptions, handle backstory, and describe your characters’ emotions (Writers’ Guide Series) (Volume 3)
• The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface