7 Ways To Create Suspense In Your Memoir

Learn how to create suspense in your memoir with the seven practical techniques for building tension and drama.

‘Memoir… may look like a casual and even random calling up of bygone events. It’s not; it’s a deliberate construction.’ ~William Zinsser

Even Memoirs Need Suspense

Suspense is not conflict. Suspense means keeping readers on the edge of the page, guessing and wondering what will happen next. The way to do this is by asking a question, or series of questions, in the beginning of your memoir and not answering until the end.

Even if the readers of your memoir know your story, and they obviously know you have survived, you can keep some things back. This will keep them interested enough to go all the way to the end to find out how you coped.

It is often the ‘how’ that is more important than the ‘why’ in a memoir. Take a step back and write yourself as if you were writing a character in a novel. Show how you lived, breathed, and felt throughout the memoir.

7 Ways To Create Suspense in Memoirs

1. Use heightened sensory details. If you were waiting for an abusive partner to come home, every sound becomes loaded with possibilities. The sound of a car pulling into the driveway, footsteps outside the door, or a key turning in the lock can build tension. Use what you saw, heard, smelled, tasted, and felt to put readers inside the moment. Read: The Power Of The 5 Senses In Stories
2. Confide in your reader. Tell the reader your plans, your dreams, and your hopes. Let them understand what you wanted and what you believed was going to happen. This allows them to get to know you and empathise with you. They will be as devastated as you are when things do not go as planned.
3. Use time constraints. If you had a ‘ticking clock’ situation with deadlines and the consequences of missing those deadlines, use it in your story. A deadline, an appointment, an impending event, or a limited amount of time to make a decision can create natural tension. Show what was at stake if you failed to meet that deadline or ran out of time. The pressure will keep you and your readers alert.
4. Show dilemmas. We all have to make choices. Use dilemmas you faced and offer readers a bird’s eye view into your life as you made your decisions. Let readers experience the uncertainty with you rather than simply telling them what you decided.
5. Add pressure. You will have dealt with pressure and complications in your life. Make sure you write these into the appropriate scenes of your memoir with the intensity they deserve. Pressure can come from other people, circumstances, deadlines, secrets, financial problems, or your own expectations. The more pressure you were under, the more readers will want to know how you handled it.
6. Micro-manage suspense. We all want something every day. We may want to go shopping, get to a meeting on time, make an important phone call, or have a difficult conversation. You are no different. Show readers how the little things that do not work out for you make a difference. A missed train, a delayed phone call, a locked door, or an unexpected visitor can create tension when the reader understands why that small event matters.
7. Make promises and keep them. Suspense begins when you give readers a reason to keep reading. If you hint that something important is going to happen, make sure you eventually deliver on that promise. If you tell readers that your story will change their lives, make sure you show them how your life changed, and keep that promise.

The Last Word

A memoir may tell a true story, but it still needs the momentum of a compelling narrative. By creating suspense, you can keep readers wondering what happens next and give your experiences the tension they deserve.

Top Tip: If you want to learn how to write a memoir, look into our Secrets of a Memoirist course.

by Amanda Patterson
© Amanda Patterson

If you enjoyed this post, read:

1. The Top 12 Quotes On Writing Memoirs
2. 6 Simple Ways To Help You Find Out What Your Memoir’s About
3. 5 Reasons Why Writing A Memoir Is Like Writing A Short Film
4. How To Define Your Character’s Narrative
5. Dear Writer: Advice For Beginner Authors

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