Hi friend,
When we think about suspense, it’s easy to focus on danger—chases, threats, life-or-death moments.
But that’s not actually what keeps readers turning pages.
It’s stakes.
More specifically… what your character stands to lose.
Not just physically—but emotionally and spiritually.
Because the most powerful suspense doesn’t come from “Will they survive?”
It comes from:
“What will this cost them?”
Here’s a simple way to deepen your current story:
Take one scene and ask:
* What does my character believe right now?
* Then force them to choose between safety and doing what’s right.
That tension—that internal struggle—is where real suspense lives.
Try this:
Write a short scene where your character has a way out… but taking it would mean compromising their faith or values.
See what happens.
I’d love to hear—what are you struggling with most in your current work-in-progress? Just hit reply and tell me.
Cheering you on,
Kathy Cretsinger
Great advice. I will try this.
Thanks, Beth.
I’ve struggled with this same thing in my WIP. My main character is President Maggie Culbertson, President of the US, and she has won many target shooting awards. She even outshot the Secret Service. She has been asked by the government to be a party of sharp-shooters who will take down eight terrorists who have captured eithg young men, killed two professors, and assulted three young women. One of the captured men is her son. My stakes were: can she do this even though the Bible teaches murder is a sin, can she shoot another human being, and will God forgive her? To me those are big stakes. What would you do?