Ruth Rendell Quotes

I think the tricky balance, the most important thing more than the horror is to have a compelling story, compelling drama, a show about great characters that you care about and you want to come back every week to see what they're up to.

The first rule is you have to create a reality that makes the reader want to come back and see what happens next. The way I tried to do it, I'd create characters that the reader could instantly recognize, and hopefully bond with, and put them through situations that keep the reader on the edge of their seat.

I try to end every chapter with an air of suspense. I try to leave the reader wanting to turn the page.

In plotting a book, my goal is to raise the stakes for the characters and, in so doing, keep the reader mesmerized.

As a reader, I happen to like turning pages and wanting to know what happens next.

I want the reader to turn the page and keep on turning until the end.

Considerations of plot do a great deal of heavy lifting when it comes to long-form narrative - readers will overlook the most ham-fisted prose if only a writer can make them long to know what happens next.

I love the idea of trying to do the work of old-fashioned novelists of plotting and of really making you curious about what's going to happen next and all that, but also trying to load it up with your weird thoughts and opinions.

Suspense arises naturally from good writing - it's not a spice to be added separately.

What resonates with me whenever I watch a great movie or TV show is the balance of inevitability and unpredictability. And it's a very delicate balance.

Will the reader turn the page?

When you think of a great twist or a red herring or a way of misdirecting the reader, it is good, but you know that they are just tricks at the end of the day, and the way to keep interest is to write characters that people care about.

For me, the writing process is the same as the reading process. I want to know what happens next.

As a writer, I try to appeal to the 'elusive boy audience' the same way I try to appeal to everyone: I do the very best I can to create interesting characters, addictive plots, tons of conflict, believable settings, unexpected plot twists, intriguing beginnings, and satisfying endings.

For success, the author must make the reader care about the destiny of the principals, and sustain this anxiety, or suspense, for about 100,000 words.

We like drama. Even in our comedy, we like drama.

I love a really good storyline.

Suspense films are often based on communication problems, and that affects all of the plot points. It almost gives it kind of a fable feeling.

Tension is the cornerstone of any good story.

In fiction, it's a big challenge to keep the reader in one place for so long.

Serial novels have an unexpected effect; they hook the writer as well as the reader.

We want a story that starts out with an earthquake and works its way up to a climax.

From beginning to end it's about keeping the energy and the intensity of the story and not doing too much and not doing too little, but just enough so people stay interested and stay involved in the characters.

I think predictability is built into any good novel in some way - you begin reading Anna Karenina and you know pretty much what's going to happen at the end. But that doesn't mean you know what's going to happen in the middle. For me, it's that sense of what happens in the middle that's important.

I've found I can plunge the characters into whatever absurd, awful situation, and readers will follow as long as the writer makes them seem like 'real people.'