Katherine Fleet | The Night Twitter Exploded

Hi, everyone! I’m Katherine Fleet, and I’m so excited to be here on Fresh Fiction today. I’m the debut author of THE SECRET TO LETTING GO from Entangled Teen. It’s a YA contemporary set in a fictional town on the Gulf Coast of Florida during that magical summer after high school graduation where the whole world is out there waiting for you. It’s the story of two teens – Clover, a mysterious girl who shows up in town steeped in secrets and fears, and Daniel, a boy who’s drawn into her troubled world despite his better judgment. Life keeps throwing them together, but their secrets keep them apart. Ultimately, it’s a story about living through tragedy and learning to forgive your self. As it’s “Suspense Day” here on Fresh Fiction, I was asked to write about suspense. My first thoughts were about thrillers and murder mysteries and how these possibly applied to my writing, but then I looked up the definition of suspense. It’s “a state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen.” Hmmm…I’ve felt this frequently when watching shows like Downton Abbey or reading books like THE HELP. Yet, neither of these has any serial killers or car-chase scenes.

So this got me thinking – what makes something suspenseful for me?

There is one main prerequisite. I have to be emotionally invested in the
characters. If I don’t care about a character, I don’t really care what happens
to them. Therefore, I don’t feel any anxious uncertainty, even if they are about
to be kidnapped, blackmailed or dumped by their one true love.

If you’re a Walking Dead fan, you’ll relate to what I’m about to say. If you aren’t, you need to start binge watching on Netflix immediately after finishing this post (and after checking out my book!). The Walking Dead producers recently masterminded one of the largest global suspense frenzies ever. *Spoiler alert. They left millions of viewers believing that Glenn had been eaten by walkers. Twitter exploded! Fans wailed and curled into fetal positions. Then the rumors started – maybe he hadn’t actually been eaten, maybe he crawled under a dumpster and survived. Hope surfaced and suspense raged. Two weeks later, the truth was revealed. Glenn survived!

I heard a producer talking about this episode. He said he wanted fans to feel
the same uncertainty that characters in the show would be going through. In the
post-zombie apocalypse world, communications are limited, so characters often go
days without knowing what’s happened to their loved ones.

But why did the fandom react so intensely? Because it was Glenn. Glenn is part
of the original Atlanta Five. He was the young, brash, loyal and brave pizza
delivery boy, and over the seasons, we’ve watched him grow into a strong,
compassionate man. More importantly, Glenn has maintained his humanity. He’s the
quiet, moral compass of the group and his love for Maggie is a beacon of hope in
a world that has lost all its meaning. We love Glenn because of who he is and
because of that emotional investment, the suspense literally killed us!

So there you have it – my thoughts on what makes for great suspense. I’d love to
hear your feedback. What makes you feel suspense? Any favorite suspenseful
moments in recent books?