Thanks to the wonders of social media, Nat Cassidy, one of my favorite horror and crafters of suspense, posted about a new novella. Lesson: don’t discount posting about your books on social media. Once it crossed my feed, I immediately went to my local bookstore, and wouldn’t you know, they had it in stock. It is a minor miracle since this bookstore has a small but expertly curated book selection. The new novella is Rest Stop, and I devoured it in a couple of hours on Saturday. It is a full-throated shout into the night, a book that grabs onto you and doesn’t let up. Expertly crafted tension that makes you squirm. Chef’s kiss.
But this isn’t going to be a review of the book. If the above tempts you, please buy a copy or get it at the library and enjoy it. For those interested in craft discussion, feel free to continue below. There are minor spoilers for one section. Very minor, given the preface of the novella.
POV to create suspense
Cassidy’s choice to use a third-person omniscient POV instantly intrigued me and got my author’s brain questioning why. While the majority of the story sinks into more of a close third-person, there are occasional points in the narrative where the scope pulls back, and we get somewhat of an interjection from the nameless narrator.
One point where this happens is when the protagonist, Abe, now locked in a restroom, sees a spider drop from the ceiling onto the floor. He believes it is a tarantula because of its massive size. However, the narrative then shifts, and we get the following quote. For context, Trumbull Farms is a spider/snake roadside attraction Abe saw signs for earlier:
“If Abe ever had occasion to visit Trumbull Farms, he would have seen this particular specimen on display—not a tarantula, but a Sydney funnel-web spider. The signage would’ve informed him that the Sydney funnel-web spider isn’t deadly. Not usually, at least. But it is “a favorite here at the Farm, because, as you see, they’re not shy! In fact, they’re very aggressive. And those fangs can bite down hard enough to break a mouse’s skull!””
Per the above, we can see how the narrator intervenes. This paragraph is outside Abe’s POV because he doesn’t know this information. But the narrator of the story does. And the narrator wants us, the audience, to know it too. Why? What effect does this have on the reader’s perception of this scene?
When reading the book I stopped and reread this paragraph to my wife, because I appreciated the subtle creation of suspense by pulling back and giving this information to the reader. Readers love when they have more information than the MC of a novel. And in this case, the increased knowledge adds to the level of suspense in the following scenes and chapters.
Learning from the master of suspense
The paragraph reminded me of a famous quote from Alfred Hitchcock. You can watch the video above for the whole thing. To paraphrase, Hitchcock says that if there is a bomb under a table where two men are having a conversation, it’s better to let the audience in on this fact before it goes off. The subtle act of revealing this fact heightens the scene’s suspense because the audience is waiting, holding their breath, knowing time is of the essence. Now they’re on the edge of their seat instead of being blindsided by the surprise of an explosion out of nowhere.
It works the same when Cassidy informs the reader of the spider species when we know Abe thinks it’s a tarantula. This knowledge imbalance intensifies the suspense within the chapter. Will Abe not worry too much about the spider? Will he assume it won’t bite him? We don’t know, but we do know this thing can freaking hurt him and potentially kill him if he’s not lucky. We’re on edge with every interaction between the predator and the prey. All because Cassidy zoomed the scope out from a close third and allowed us into the deeper workings of the story’s universe.
In his lecture, Hitchcock goes on to say that “the bomb cannot go off or the audience will be angry because you haven’t given them any release.” I won’t spoil what happens in the book, but suffice it to say that Cassidy also follows this line of thinking. The audience is rewarded for their suspense with an adequate release of this tension at the end of the chapter.
Masterfully done.
Tension and release
What I take away from this as an author is the need to balance the audience’s and characters’ knowledge. Even if the narrative doesn’t use omniscience, we can use other characters or POVs to reveal information to the audience while keeping it secret from our protagonists. In this way, the imbalance will heighten the suspense due to the ambiguity of what the MC will do with the false information—all the time reminding ourselves that the bomb cannot, in fact, go off. We have to release this tension in a satisfying way.
The pleasure we get as an audience when our stomachs are in knots and there seems to be no way out is only matched by releasing this tension when a character makes it out by the skin of their teeth.