Elements of Romantic Suspense
as told by Carly Bishop
by
Rosanne Boettiger

The Heart of Denver Romance Writers was lucky enough to have Cheryl McConigle, aka: Carly Bishop speak at the November meeting. Along with her wonderful wit, Cheryl shared much interesting and useful information.

We all know that the key to any good fiction is conflict. But Cheryl believes the key to a really great page turner is suspense, particularly romantic suspense. Considering she has more than 16 novels to her credit that have sold one and a half million copies, I figure she knows what she’s talking about!

The three key elements of romantic suspense are: danger, mystery, and jeopardy. Whether it is a murder, kidnapping or espionage, something big must be at stake. You need a "real villain". By this Cheryl means someone truly evil and not just someone standing in the way of the hero or heroine. This villain must put them in personal danger.

Cheryl outlined her three key points to making a romantic suspense a success along with her list of five "absolutely don’t do these". She added with a grin that of course we could do them, but the results in our stories would probably make them unsaleable.

The first key point was setting. The setting for a romantic suspense becomes paramount to the story. It becomes part of the conflict, even an ingrained part of the character’s persona. The hero/heroine can battle the elements along with other characters. Even the small town setting makes a special world that work well in a romantic suspense. For example: the heroine is in the witness protection program and is followed/harassed by someone. She turns to the police, even though she doesn’t want to draw attention to herself, only to find out that the man following her is the small town’s beloved sheriff. Now she has to deal with the town’s attitude of her being a troublemaker along with the hero’s odd behavior.

The second key point is the heroine needs to be someone special. But you exclaim, all your heroines are ‘special’. By this, Cheryl means give her special circumstances, such as the heroine in the movie "Witness". The fact that she was from a small Amish community added a special circumstance to the conflict. Or it could be her name that is special, causing conflict in itself because of ‘name games’ or connotations.

The third key point is P.O.V. The motivation of the character telling the story is very important. A character’s history can drive the POV. Cheryl is also adamant about not changing POV without a good reason. If the story is driven by the victim’s POV, don’t jump into the head of the villain without it being a way of advancing the plot.

Cheryl also stated that the key to romantic suspense (or any good fiction for that matter) is withholding information from the reader, especially in the first chapter. Don’t give away the whole story in the first 25 pages. Make sure the reader know what is at stake, that much needs to be clear, but don’t give in to the temptation to fill in the backstory too early. Mystery, one of the important elements of romantic suspense, is the slow revelation of the backstory.

Now, the list of "Absolutely Don’t Do These".

1. Coincidences. Never put in any situation that has not been set up. Cheryl warns that even phrasing something in a synopsis to appear as a coincidence will most likely get you a rejection.
2. Big Bang. Stories that start with a huge conflict that really don’t have anything to do with the rest of the story, and is never referred to again in the book.
3. No Emotional Stake. Characters must have a personal stake in the conflict. One character can start out being involved in the conflict and the other can grow to become emotionally involved by knowing the first character, but they must have a personal interest at stake. (ie: secret babies, kidnapping, career/character defamation)
4. Stupid Heroines. Ack! There is nothing worse than the story in which the obvious solution to the conflict would be to call the police. If the heroine cannot go to the police, give her a good reason why she can’t. Things such as: assumed identity, the police are involved, or she suspects there’s a mole in the police department.
5. Stupid Villains. The more powerful the villain, the bigger the challenge to the hero and heroine. What drives the villain? Why is he/she evil? Is it revenge, a cause, a vigilante action? The villain needs a strong motivation to want to block the hero/heroine. The hero/heroine would not have a goal if it were not for the villain trying to block their every move.

To sum things up, Cheryl stated that the romance and the intrigue in a romantic suspense must be intertwined. They can not run on separate tracks. At every point something has to advance in either the relationship or the plot, and the mystery slowly unfolds before the readers eyes. That is what makes romantic suspense so much fun to write, and to read.

Rosanne Boettiger has been writing ‘professionally’ for six years now, but got hooked on writing in seventh grade. With several articles and short stories, and even a children’s book to her credit, she is eagerly awaiting the ‘big event’ – the sale of her first romance.

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