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@lockheartfiction.bsky.socialSep 24, 2026, 2:34 PM

I use it when the reader needs to sit and question things or take a breath after an 'oh shit' moment.

Sometimes, I need the reader to get on the emotion train with a certain character, so I sharply change POV.

Since Resist was first written to be a serial, I have several books end...

#Sustember

@melwaverly.bsky.socialSep 24, 2026, 1:34 PM

#Sustember

Not the Dickensian definition of the term, however, I do make strategic use of chapter breaks, POV switches (sometimes both at the same time) to encourage that feeling of suspense and need to keep reading.
I think they're best used sparingly.

@amber-hathaway.bsky.socialSep 24, 2026, 12:24 PM

I love playing with imagery to create atmosphere and turning tropes and expectations on their head. For example, daylight and light colors can be just as unsettling as darkness when described effectively. Bone white, ghost white, as pale as a corpse, etc.

#Sustember

@vampireantihero.comSep 24, 2026, 12:01 PM

My own #Sustember post -- I use them mostly towards the end of a book in the middle of a series. Sometimes I'll leave a big cliffhanger before a shift in POV to keep people guessing while the POV we're in is playing out. But, cliffhangers are best used sparingly.

@vampireantihero.comSep 24, 2026, 11:50 AM

#Sustember | 24

Love 'em or hate 'em, cliffhangers are common when it comes to suspense.

Cliffhangers are a powerful tool to keep readers turning the page. How do you use them? When is the best time to use them? Let us know your thoughts!

#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #WritingPrompts

A brown graphic with a skeleton holding a sketchbook on a messy desk. It says: Sustember 24 Cliffhangers are a powerful tool to keep readers turning the page. How do you use them? When is the best time to use them? Let us know your thoughts! Please COMMENT, LIKE, and SHARE others' posts. All genres welcome, so long as you're using suspense or surprise!
@mcwrites27.bsky.socialSep 24, 2026, 1:10 AM

Moody weather that matches the emotional undertone of a scene is one of my favorites. I also like building an idea of what the world looks like for the reader so they can lean further into the things they can't see or don't know with the narrating character. #Sustember

@lockheartfiction.bsky.socialSep 23, 2026, 10:53 PM

I look inward for setting a suspenseful section. This snip is the opening for the chapter where Rollan is transformed. The rest of the world doesn't matter in these moments. The fear is in character.
#Sustember
CW: mention of executions

Through the return trip to PyreTech, Rollan remained compliant. Rollan’s sister stood at her death with her head held high in proud defiance. In this moment, Rollan needed to tap into her power. He didn’t adjust his posture as they sat on the train. Each breath, even. Struggling would have been a wasted effort. He wouldn’t get away. There was nowhere to go. Even if he escaped the train, within minutes a thrall would be at his throat. The only hope he had to cling to was that if he was well-behaved, he would receive a stroke of luck and they might be merciful with his death. If he had to choose a way to die, he wanted it to be painless. Quick didn’t matter, just no more pain. It wouldn’t happen. There was never mercy. During his parents’ executions, the Overlords, Ministers of the Realm, and Circle sat above the crowds with smug expressions. Not one of them cared that they were ripping a family apart.
@cjmann3.bsky.socialSep 23, 2026, 8:09 PM

In QUEEN FOR A DAY, water sets the scene: palace streams, water-hewn stone, and water clocks that measure time with every single drop. Chantara feels cool, damp, and pressurized, as though its history clings to the walls and something may give at any moment.

#Sustember #AmWriting #FantasyBooks

Cobeah rose. Numbed. Duty turned her toward the throne. Her footsteps splashed through the shallow waters covering the throne room. For millennia, the holy order of the Clepsydra claimed the babbling current mimicked the sound of Mother Altalune’s Lunar Realm. The natural stone throne waited ahead, water-hewn by centuries of rushing rivers and bubbling streams. Its surface glistened with a perpetual dampness any monarch could feel: a cold, continuous reminder of all the ages that came before. Stillness held the chamber. Only The Water Thief, highest member of the Clepsydra, dared move. He circled the chamber’s edge, weaving his broad body through the press like a lone fish slipping the school to avoid the net. His face held no grief; only disappointment. Murmurs rose. Little eddies in the silence: grief, fear, and anger. Many remained kneeling and sobbing, but others elbowed their neighbors, whispering their doubts. Nearby, the great water clock dripped on. Indifferent. As if it, too, had witnessed events like this before.
@maximejaz.bsky.socialSep 23, 2026, 8:05 PM

#Sustember
My characters appear in a scene already, like in a movie and then they play their movie and I'm the scribe. Sometimes that scene can be inspired by a photo, like my crime WIP's, sometimes it appears in a dream, and so on... In my crime WIP, that photo triggered this scene.

Chapter 1 Nathaniel crouched down to the water’s edge, the grass damp in the early morning light playing on that calm green surface, his eyes on that small plastic SUV wedged into the muddy waters. It had turned on its side, the wheels crusted with mud, that tiny car out of place in that natural environment. Plastic and metal, the stickers half-peeled, worn by tiny hands playing with it for endless hours. He swallowed, his cool eyes mirroring the water’s greenish glow. Tape flapping in the wind, yellow, tiny cards placed all over that peaceful bank. Birds chirping in the early morning light. He sighed and got up, walking to another man further away, crouching near something that had been dragged to shore.
@trishcwilson.bsky.socialSep 23, 2026, 4:05 PM

#Sustember Sept 23 - in LIKE A BREATH OF OCEAN BLUE, I set the scene by describing the female MC's love interest in terms of flowing water and sensuality. The suspense comes from whether or not the woman my MC adores likes her in return. This story is erotic romance. Excerpt below with alt.txt.

From LIKE A BREATH OF OCEAN BLUE, which appears in BEST LESBIAN ROMANCE OF THE YEAR 2015. Malena, her name was like an elixir on my lips. Ma - le - na. An orgasm in my mouth. Like a breath of ocean blue, she caught me in the pull of her riptide. Malena, whose hair fell down her back like dark rain during a midnight storm. Her sun-kissed skin glowed the colour of the coffee and cream I sipped every morning. I admired her body from afar; a swell of broad hips that kissed her waist the way I wanted to; shoulders broad enough for me to rest my head upon; breasts so full I could get lost in all that delicious cleavage.
@melwaverly.bsky.socialSep 23, 2026, 3:28 PM

#Sustember
I really like focussing on 1) the internal. I get close to my MCs and make use of free indirect POV and 2) the insignificant details. These become motifs of fixation. I make use of it in WIP 1 and 2 (less so in 3. Will probably in 4 though).

Julie usually gets this treatment in WIP1 ⬇️

@vampireantihero.comSep 23, 2026, 3:21 PM

My own #Sustember answer --

For horror in particular, I like to lean into onomatopoeia and really get their ears engaged. Scent and sight are also important. For more general suspense, I lean into body feel -- what's touching them? What are they noticing?

I also like to play with limited sight.

@skarabraeauthor.bsky.socialSep 23, 2026, 3:14 PM

#Sustember

Engaging the senses of sight, sound, and smell are the most important things for setting a tone.

#WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #ReadingCommunity

@vampireantihero.comSep 23, 2026, 3:10 PM

#Sustember | 23

Sorry for my lateness! Brain continues to be scattered. Let's talk atmosphere!

Atmosphere adds a lot to suspense. How do you set the scene for your characters? What important repeating elements set the tone in your atmosphere?

#WritingPrompts #WritingCommunity #WriteSky

A brown graphic with a skeleton holding a sketchbook on a messy desk. It says: Sustember 23 Atmosphere adds a lot to suspense. How do you set the scene for your characters? What important repeating elements set the tone in your atmosphere? Please COMMENT, LIKE, and SHARE others' posts. All genres welcome, so long as you're using suspense or surprise!
@cjmann3.bsky.socialSep 22, 2026, 7:55 PM

My favorite forms of foreshadowing look like texture: an heirloom, a ritual, a line about busy paperwork. Then, the story circles back and reveals it was evidence all along. I like giving readers the pieces early and letting the meaning arrive later

A WIPSnip example
#Sustember #AmWriting #WriteSky

Requiem Five (Four years before Cobeah’s act of High Treason) In her study, Disaya watched the blazing sun begin its descent through one window, while another on the far wall framed the crescent of Luna breaking the horizon. This time of year, the lunar realm was eager, pressing into the day’s last light. In other months it lingered, letting the sun die fully before showing its moonlit face. Beyond the glass, Pelagica prepared for night the way it always did. Doors opened. Voices rose. Meals were shared, bread broken, cups filled again and again with wine, water, and ale. The city’s joy reached her as muffled sound, softened by distance, a celebration heard through stone-thick walls. As much as she took pride in her work, it left her with a familiar irritation when duty pinned her to the desk well after moonrise. The burden came with her mantle, and she had accepted it with an open heart. Still, she would rather have been at a table with her children, and sometimes even Aulay, laughing over food while the night cooled the house. Not tonight. Tonight required another hour, maybe two. Seals waited. Signatures. Documents that could not be delayed simply because the moon had risen. Calder’s promotion to Admiral. Revisions to the Fishers’ Guild charter. Schedules for court and ceremony, all of them threaded around the Clepsydra’s lunar rites, because the holy calendars did not bend for mortal convenience. Disputes needed judgment. Legislation needed shaping. Qualms with neighboring realms needed addressing before they became raids and corpses. The pile on her desk had the quiet weight of a flood.
@mcwrites27.bsky.socialSep 22, 2026, 6:42 PM

My favorite kind of foreshadowing is symbolism and suspicion. Whether it's an animal, object, or motif, I just love an icon that haunts the narrative with foreboding. Other times, it's tiny conversational slips between characters that a true overthinker would catch. #Sustember