Quantum Storytelling

Why do some stories have suspense, and others don’t?

In her book How To Write KILLER Fiction, Carolyn Wheat explains what she calls The Four Outcomes:

A character wants something, something concrete in the here-and-now. Will he get it? There are four possible outcomes: “Yes,” “No,” “No, and furthermore,” and “Yes, but.” The first two outcomes do absolutely nothing to move the plot.

The “no, and furthermore” answer is one of the two outcomes that will move the story and fill the middle of your suspense novel with every-deepening complications. Whatever your characters do in the middle of the book should not only fail, it should fail in such a way that it makes their situations actively worse than they were before.

The most interesting use of the “yes, but” outcome is the “yes” with a hidden “but.” Our hero gladly accepts the “yes” part of the answer, and settles down in the comfortable belief that he’s being helped. And then, when he least expects it, the hidden “but” pops up–and the hero is plunged into distrust and danger once again.

I found this explanation satisfying as it explains why simple yes-no answers to conflict are never very dramatic or moving within a work. The protagonist should never get exactly what they want, or if they do there should be a serious catch to complicate matters. The writer is very much the designer of an obstacle course that the hero must get through.

My entry into the game industry was as a level designer, so I very much understand this kind of ‘design’ in writing. But it’s also the hardest part. Coming up with puzzles, tricks and traps, “but”s and “furthermore”s is a lot of hard work.

If your hero is accomplishing things too easily, then at least you know you’ve got a problem. Make it more challenging!

Some also frame this technique by asking the question; “What’s the worst thing that could possibly happen to the main characters at this point in the story?” Keep in mind, however, that it’s not just about beating your characters down. Half of the technique is in developing the response your characters will have. For every action there is reaction, and thus conflict. And where there is conflict, lay the seeds of suspense.

“What happens next?”

In my experiences writing, this is one of the hardest questions to answer. But it’s really not so hard. I’ve often found that I’m making a mountain out of a molehill when I get stuck on this problem. It’s not hard to think of Worst Case Scenarios to put your characters in. You can always go back and change them at a later date, the point is to shut the internal critic up and just establish a baseline of plot points so you have something to work with.

When in doubt, create conflict.