Plot Tension Quotes

In a horror film the protagonist should be vulnerable enough for audience to be worried about him. You can't have a six feet boxer and expect audience to worry about him.

I often will write a scene from three different points of view to find out which has the most tension and which way I'm able to conceal the information I'm trying to conceal. And that is, at the end of the day, what writing suspense is all about.

Well, if you're writing a thriller, you have to have your character in mortal jeopardy on page 1 or it's not a thriller.

As a writer, I feel like your favorite character shouldn't be safe.

Show me a character whose life arouses my curiosity, and my flesh begins crawling with suspense.

I love taking a character and raining holy hell down on them and seeing how they respond, how they react. It's one of the things I do in almost all my books - my protagonist is put through a very stressful situation that tests their strength and their psychological acuity. That's one of the core components of who I am as a writer.

If the characters are acting true to themselves, then that chemistry and suspense will flow.

It turns up the heat under a narrative when you limit the characters in their movements or their freedoms.

I did not like 'The Hurt Locker.' It's a lazy way to make a movie, frankly. I could put you on the edge of your seat quite easily, and have you feel the tension for 2 hours, if every other scene practically is, 'Should we cut the red wire or the green wire?'