Setting up suspense is one of the main techniques in novel writing. How should the suspense be set? Jin Yong gave an important answer in "Cliff Top Doubt".
01 The serial suspense along the line
Letting important things lack answers is the essence of suspense. The most basic thing in this is that the reader cares about this matter. So, why do readers care? Readers want one or more characters to be safe, healthy and happy, but there are major factors threatening them, and this is when a crisis arises. The emotions that the reader substitutes into the novel become tense, and the suspense arises.
Therefore, suspense is a very characteristic and necessary writing technique. So, how should suspense be used? It is best to be a serial suspense, that is, a chain of tension, you can pull the reader's emotions step by step.
Guo Jing took a long breath and stood up. The Daoist whispered, "Let's follow him and see what kind of ghost she is making." Grabbing Guo Jing's belt, he gently slipped down from behind the cliff.
When the two men landed on the cliff, Mei Chaofeng's figure was already in the distance to the north. The Daoist man's left hand was resting on Guo Jing's armpit, and Guo Jing felt that his body was half lighter when he walked. The two men walked like flying, tracking far away, not knowing how much they had walked in the desert, when the sky was light, they saw dozens of large tents erected in front of them, and Mei Chaofeng's body shook and disappeared into the tent.
The two men quickened their pace, avoided the patrolling sentries, grabbed a large yellow tent in the middle, crouched down on the ground, and when they opened the corner of the tent and looked inside, they saw a man pull out his waist knife, slash it down, and hack a big man to the ground.
The big man was about to fall down and was falling in front of Guo Jing and the Daoists. Guo Jing realized that this man was Temujin's personal soldier, and he was shocked and thought, "Why did he kill people here?" Gently lifting the bottom of the tent a little higher, the man with the knife just turned his face, and it was indeed Wang Han's son Sang Kun. Only to see him wipe the blood from the bottom of his boots with his long knife and say, "Now you don't have any doubts anymore?" Another said, "Temujin's brother Ishimoto is wise and courageous, and he is afraid that this matter will not be easy to succeed." Guo Jing recognized this man as Temujin's righteous brother Zamuhe. Sang Kun sneered, "You love your righteous brother, then go and report to him." Zamuhe said, "You are also my righteous brother, and your father treated me so kindly, of course I will not fail you." Besides, Temujin was bent on devouring my people, and I didn't know it, but for the sake of righteousness, I didn't break my face with him. ”
Guo Jing wondered, "Are they plotting against Temujin?" How can this be? Then he heard another person in the tent say, "The first hand is strong, and the second hand suffers." If you give them to you first, you'll be bad. After the fact, Temujin's livestock, women, and treasures all belonged to Sangkun; his people all belonged to Zamuhe, and I dajin re-sealed Zamuhe as an envoy to the north of the town. Guo Jing only saw the man's back, so he quietly climbed over a few feet, looking at his side, this man was very familiar, wearing a yellow brocade robe with mink, the costume was very luxurious, pondering his tone, and then remembered: "Well, he is the sixth prince of the Golden Kingdom." ”
Who are these three people? Wang Han's son Sangkun, Temujin's righteous brother Zamuhe, and the sixth prince of the Golden Kingdom, Yan Honglie. What are they doing? Undoubtedly plotting how to kill Temujin. Why kill Temujin? From this passage, it can be seen that Yan Honglie is provoking Sangkun and Zamuhe to oppose Temujin.
Here just wrote Mei Chaofeng this big suspense. The reader's emotions do not seem to have escaped from the suspense of Mei Chaofeng, and immediately entered another suspense: whether Temujin will be killed, and what Guo Jing should do next. This is the step-by-step serial suspense.
02 The benefits of serial suspense
The emotional waves aroused by the previous suspense make the follow-up suspense even bigger. This is the comparative amplification effect. If there is no sense of terror and tension caused by Mei Chaofeng in front, the reader's psychology will not be so suspended. At this time, the readers are already relatively fragile in their hearts, so at this time, there is suddenly a major conspiracy against Temujin, his life is being threatened, and the impact in the reader's heart will be even greater.
If there is no sense of fear caused by Mei Chaofeng's suspense, but Guo Jing went to the vicinity of the yurt one day and happened to hear this major invisibility, the dramatic effect would definitely not be so great. At this time, the reader's heart has not yet been put down and is hung up again. Such a serial plot has undoubtedly a great psychological impact on the reader.
That's the benefit of the down-the-line serial suspense. Wave after wave of uneven feelings, that is, the feeling of watching mountains continuously. The setting of such a suspenseful plot also happens to meet the psychological expectations of readers who do not like the mountains and do not like the peace.
Of course, we must also pay attention not to cause aesthetic fatigue, the difference between the two suspense should be as large as possible, and the matters involved in the suspense behind should be more important, only in this way can we hedge the impact of the previous suspense, so that the reader feels that he can only take care of the things in front of him, and cannot care about the suspense in front.
The two suspense should have a certain connection. This connection can be both substantive and formal. If Mei Chaofeng enters this Mongolian camp, the subsequent development has nothing to do with her for the time being. She seems to have only played a leading role, and the subsequent plot has nothing to do with her.
There can also be a substantial connection between the suspense before and after the serial suspense, such as the former suspense is the cause of the latter suspense, and the latter suspense is the logical development of the previous suspense, and they have an intrinsic relationship. Even, together, they can form a larger suspense, an integral part of the whole suspense.
03 How to set up a serial suspense
Since the serial suspense is so good, how should it be set up?
This starts with knowing the basic structure of the serial suspense. It is mainly divided into three parts: starting point suspense, connection point and follow-up suspense. Among them, the starting point suspense is the starting point of the entire serial suspense, and it is also the starting basis for determining the basic quality of the entire serial suspense. The connection point is the combination point that connects the starting point suspense and the subsequent suspense. The follow-up suspense means the concrete realization of the suspense possibility that the starting point suspense delivers through the suspense point.
After understanding the basic components of serial suspense, it is also necessary to understand the basic process of serial suspense. The first step is to pull up the suspense. Pull up the suspense, that is, pull up the first suspense through the suspense setting method, also known as the starting point suspense. When pulling up the suspense, it is necessary to consider how to push the suspense, but also to link up with the follow-up suspense, and the three factors before and after should be intrinsically consistent, and superimpose enough suspense linkage effects on each other.
The second step is suspense push. The so-called push suspense refers to the need for a push process between the starting point suspense and the follow-up suspense, just like the relay run in sports competitions, and there must be a handover process between the front and back sticks. The handover process between this suspense is the suspense push. Suspense push will play a crucial role in setting up.
The third step, suspense evolution. After completing the push handover between the suspense before and after, the follow-up suspense will be more self-reliant and advanced. This creates a sense of progress between the suspense. The original suspense ends here or ends temporarily, while the subsequent suspense is in the right center of the continuous roll forward, stimulating a new sense of suspense and a sense of to be revealed.
Next, how should we specifically design the serial suspense? This should be set up according to different classifications, and the serial suspense should be set up separately.
First, the inline type. The so-called inline serial suspense refers to the inherent logical progressive relationship between the starting point suspense and the subsequent suspense. They are part of the whole grand suspense.
For example, the overall suspense of "Lian Cheng Tips" is Lian Cheng Tips, and the suspense in the first part is what is the relationship between Qi Changfa and Wan Zhenshan and Yan Daping, this suspense promotes the subsequent imprisonment of Di Yun in confusion, and Di Yun's acquaintance with Ding Dian further reveals the existence of Lian Cheng Tips. These suspense actually constitute a continuous wave of suspense. The various mysteries are intrinsically related to each other, and finally they all point to the true unveiling of the secrets of the city.
The design of the inline serial suspense means that the suspense parts before and after are intrinsically chained, and it is necessary to sort out the internal relationship between the suspense parts of each part, and use the factors connected before and after to evolve the relationship between the layers of the front and back, from small suspense to larger suspense to larger suspense, and continue to roll forward according to the logical line.
Second, the concatenated type. The so-called sequential serial suspense refers to the fact that the starting point suspense and the follow-up suspense are connected by the trend, and there is no inherent logical relationship between the front and back. As mentioned in the first part, Guo Jingma Yu tracked down Mei Chaofeng's suspense, and shunshi derived a huge conspiracy designed by Yan Honglie and others to murder Temujin. Between these two suspense, it constitutes a series of suspense in the form of a continuous series.
Sequential serial suspense requires special attention to designing a good connection point, and the starting point suspense should be able to have something naturally stretched out, and the contradictory factors should be substituted into the subsequent suspense. This requires the author to think deeply about the relationship between the suspense before and after, and thus arrange their forward connection mechanism.
Third, the parallel type. Two suspense coexist, there is no progression or nesting relationship, but they need to point to the same result together. In the first chapter of "Smiling Proud of the Rivers and Lakes", people and horses from different paths all pursue the "Sword Spectrum to Ward Off Evil Spirits", and each of them has its own independent route, and finally gathers at the home of Lin Pingzhi in Fuzhou. This is the same pointing to the parallel serial suspense. There may be some degree of interweaving between parallel serial suspense, but they are not as closely interrelated as the inline.
When setting up parallel suspense, the author needs to clarify the respective ideas between the juxtaposed suspense, and at the same time reflect the moderate correlation between them.