Raising the Stakes: Writing Thrillers and Suspense That Hook Readers

Rosemi Mederos: 00:01

If you have plot bunnies coming out of your plot holes, it’s time for a writing break.

Welcome to another Writing Break. Today we’re talking about thrillers and suspense, the genres that thrive on tension, danger, and that panic attack-inducing ticking clock. We’ll be looking at what makes a thriller thrilling and how suspense can fuel any genre.

Thrillers are not just about what happens but also about how fast it happens and how long the reader has to hold their breath. From political thrillers to psychological suspense, these stories have us turning pages on the edge of our seats and trying hard not to peek at that last chapter.

How do you create that sense of urgency without exhausting your reader? How do you keep the tension high from the first chapter to the last? That’s what we’re discussing today. But first, the news.

The Writing Break cafe is open, so let’s grab a table and I’ll fill you in on the latest publishing news.

We are returning once again to the topic of BookTok, the good, the bad, and the alternatives. BookTok has been one of the most powerful drivers of book sales in recent years, especially for romance, fantasy, and young adult titles. Viral clips can boost new releases and even resurrect backlist books.

BookTok has also created communities. Readers from diverse backgrounds use the platform to connect, share identity, and even engage in activism through the books they recommend. For some authors, that grassroots passion is a chance to bypass traditional gatekeepers and connect directly with readers.

But while TikTok’s users are diverse, BookTok often amplifies the same narrow set of white authors writing within a handful of popular genres while experimental or diverse works struggle to break through.

In true echo chamber form, the algorithm serves up more of what already went viral. The same few titles keep surfacing while new or challenging voices are buried. We’ve seen in past Writing Break episodes that the pressure to get noticed on BookTok has led some authors to make questionable content. Authors feel they have to prioritize quick, aesthetic-driven content over deeper engagement with the story itself, and in the process they sometimes forget their book’s target demographic.

There are also concerns about blurred lines. Books marketed with pastel covers or YA vibes sometimes contain adult themes, which raises questions about how BookTok’s spicy content mixes into feeds that teens are scrolling.

So what does this mean for authors?

If you’re writing in romance, fantasy, or YA, BookTok can be career-changing. But it’s not the only way to reach readers. For authors working in more niche or experimental spaces, the key may be to cultivate smaller, more intentional communities using BookTok as one tool among many.

BookTok is powerful. It’s also imperfect. And like every publishing trend, it’s worth understanding both the opportunities and the risks before you decide how much of your energy to invest there.

One example of community building beyond social media is the Black British Book Festival, which marks its fifth year this October. What started as frustration at a lack of representation has blossomed into one of the UK’s most important literary celebrations, shining a spotlight on diverse voices and cementing its role as a vital platform for authors and readers alike.

And in Warsaw, a new express library has opened right inside a metro station. Stocked with 16,000 books, self-checkout technology, cozy reading lounges, and even a hydroponic vertical garden, it is a glorious reimagining of what public libraries can be. Oh, how I wish we could go there together.

Links to all of these news stories can be found in the show notes of today’s episode. Now, before the suspense kills us, let’s slink on over to the Overthinking Couch for an exploration of how time, stakes, and pacing keep readers on the edge of their seats and how to sustain momentum without burning out.

Thrillers consistently dominate bestseller lists, but what is it that keeps us turning the page at 2 a.m. when we need to be up at six? Suspense. Thrillers thrive on one thing: a question the reader must see answered, and quickly.

First, let’s review the difference between suspense and thriller. Suspense is the dread of what might happen, and thriller is the action, danger, high stakes, and ticking clocks. They work in tandem with each other. If the thriller holds no suspense, meaning the reader doesn’t dread what might happen, there is no thrill. The reader must care that the president is in danger or that there’s a bomb on the passenger bus. If there is a lot of suspense but not enough action, the reader will get emotionally exhausted and check out.

So thriller and suspense readers expect fast pacing. They also expect clear danger, which can be physical, psychological, societal, or a mix of these. They also expect a resolution that justifies the buildup. When you’re stuck in a bad traffic jam that eventually resolves itself with no inkling as to why there was a jam, you might say, “All that for nothing” because as messed up as it is, the traffic jam is more tolerable if you can at least see a flipped over vehicle. That’s the same thing in suspense; the resolution must justify all that buildup.

The stakes must escalate. It’s not enough to say a character is in danger; you have to show how the danger grows. Start with a problem that feels urgent, then raise the pressure every few chapters. If your first act is about a stalker in the shadows, your second act might be about the stalker breaking in, and the third act is a race to stop them before the clock runs out.

Stakes can be personal, where your character’s survival is in jeopardy. Stakes can be relational, where your protagonist is protecting a loved one, or stakes can be global, where the entire world is at risk.

Good thrillers raise stakes in layers. For example, The Da Vinci Code raises stakes from a single murder to a global conspiracy and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo escalates from financial intrigue to life-or-death stakes.

Raising the stakes means asking yourself, “if my protagonist fails right now, what’s at risk?” Then make it worse.

Pacing is everything in a thriller. Readers want fast momentum, but that doesn’t mean nonstop action. In fact, the most effective thrillers balance high-speed sequences with short breathers, giving characters a chance to catch their breath just long enough for readers to relax before you ramp things up again. For example, Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels alternate between explosive fights and quiet deduction.

To build suspense, use slow reveals, withhold information, and let dread creep in. To keep the pages turning, use shorter chapters, chapter cliffhangers, active prose, shifting scene dynamics and, if you can stand it, alternating points of view.

The point of view controls the tension. Suspense depends on what the reader knows and when they know it. A tight first-person POV lets readers feel every heartbeat alongside the protagonist. A third-person POV allows you to cut away to the villain or reveal dangers the hero hasn’t spotted yet. Either way, the POV choice shapes the tension.

For example, Gone Girl’s alternating diary entries create tension through conflicting versions of truth, and the alternating POVs twist reader expectations. Experiment with POV to control what readers fear, suspect, or dread.

Remember that time is tension. Thrillers rely on deadlines and ticking clocks, and suspense stretches dread by delaying resolution. Think of the literal clock displayed during the TV show 24 or the countdown on a bomb.

The common pitfalls in thriller and suspense include non-stop action, predictable twists, and stakes without consequences, and I’ve found that an author might struggle with one of these pitfalls consistently throughout their career. It seems to be that if they find one part more fun to write than another, they’ll struggle to balance out the story.

Nonstop action takes a toll on readers and, ironically, kills the tension. If every chapter is a car chase or a fistfight, readers burn out. They also don’t get a chance to know your protagonist in a meaningful way. And if readers don’t know your characters, they don’t care about your characters. Suspense depends on variation, meaning quiet dread followed by explosive release. Without contrast, constant action just feels flat.

Remedy this by alternating between high-octane scenes and slower tension-building moments. Think of it as breathing: inhale suspense, exhale action.

Plot twists are challenging for some writers when they don’t understand their twist is too predictable. Layer misdirection with character-driven surprises. A twist should feel both unexpected and inevitable in hindsight. We explored this last week when discussing mysteries, and it’s pretty much the same here.

Thrillers rely on surprise, but if readers see every twist coming, the tension evaporates. A predictable twist makes readers feel cheated rather than thrilled.

Stakes without consequences feel like cheap cliffhangers with no payoff. If the world is supposedly ending, but your protagonist never struggles, readers stop caring. High stakes need visible costs, whether that’s physical danger, emotional strain, or moral compromise. To fix this, it’s important to show the fallout of failure. It could be anything from a bruised body to a strained relationship to a lost ally. Consequences make stakes feel real.

There won’t be a separate episode for thriller and suspense subgenres this season because there are so many examples of these in mainstream media that we’re familiar enough with them. But let’s run through them real quick:

There’s the classic thrillers, which include action, adventure, conspiracy, crime, legal, political, spy/espionage, and techno-thriller.

Then there’s the psychological and character-driven ones, like domestic, medical/bio, and psychological thrillers.

Then you’ve got the darker shades, like horror, noir and neo-noir, and supernatural thrillers.

There are also regional and global thrillers, like nordic noir and international thrillers.

And there are hybrids, like legal/investigative suspense which involves lawyers and journalists unearthing secrets, and detective and police procedural thrillers, which follow the usual mystery structure but with time constraints and thriller pacing. And romantic suspense is a love story that involves suspenseful danger.

A thriller can be suspenseful and a suspense can have thriller aspects, which is why they’re usually grouped together, but if you need to categorize or describe your thriller/suspense, remember that thrillers rely on action, pacing, and external threats and suspense leans more on tension, dread, and anticipation.

It’s important to remember that for thriller and suspense, every scene should either increase danger or deepen doubt. The reader should always know more than your protagonist and fear what is not yet known.

So let’s recap. Thrillers thrive when stakes escalate, when pacing balances speed with suspense, and when point of view is used to manage tension. And remember the pitfalls: don’t drown readers in nonstop action, don’t rely on predictable twists, and don’t raise stakes without consequences.

I was going to come up with a writing prompt for every episode this season, but you’ve got your own manuscript to work on. So instead, how about overthinking prompts? You can do these during your commute, in the shower, right before bed, whenever.

For this week’s overthinking prompt, imagine a scene where your protagonist has exactly ten minutes to solve a problem or they’ll lose something they can’t replace. Play with pacing, ramp up the tension, and let the ticking clock drive the story.

That’s it for this episode of Writing Break. Remember, thrillers and suspense aren’t just about explosions or chase scenes; they’re about tension, stakes, and deadlines. Keep your reader hooked by raising the pressure, scene by scene, until there’s no way they can stop turning the pages.

Next time, we’re turning down the lights and snuggling up with the romance genre, where chemistry and conflict drive the story. Until then, spread a little love by subscribing, leaving a review, and sharing this episode with a fellow writer who loves a good thrill. Thank you so much for listening, and remember, you deserved this break.

Thank you for making space in your mind for The Muse today.

Writing Break is hosted by America’s Editor and produced by Allon Media with technical direction by Gus Aviles. Visit us at writingbreak.com or contact us at podcast@writingbreak.com.