Authors Writing Techniques: Suspense

         

I am reading “Divergent” by Veronica Roth and I am very pleased with what I have read so far. Roth uses many good strategies to engage the reader in the story. But by far the most prevalent of these is suspense. Roth includes a lot of suspense in order to engage the reader and keep them reading. At the end of every chapter there is a line that makes you want to keep reading on. This works on me and I find myself not being able to put the book down. I just want to find out what will happen next.

            

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          One example of how Roth uses suspense at the end of a chapter is in chapter seventeen when she says, “It’s the first time I have been really eager to be one of them. Which means I have to survive the next stage of initiation (Roth226).” So at first when you read the first sentence your like, OK, she wants to be Dauntless, but then when you read the last line, a bunch of questions pop up in your head. Like: What’s that supposed to mean? What is the next stage of initiation? Will she survive? What will happen next? Will people find out she is divergent? All of the questions make the reader want to keep reading the story to find out what happens next.

            

          This is a very good strategy and I hope to use it in my writing. I know that I struggle sometimes at intriguing the reader and I really think that a little bit of suspense might fix my problem I encourage everyone who is writing a story or narrative to build suspense and leave cliffhangers at the end of chapters/paragraphs. I will keep everyone updated on more suspenseful things that if find throughout the book, and how the keep the reader intrigued and asking for more.