Hideyoshi's "Gunboat" Diplomacy

5 ways to increase/decrease suspense in your writing

Suspense is one of the trickier parts of writing to manage effectively because, as the author, you can’t experience your story the way a reader does. If you don’t have enough suspense, it can be difficult to keep your readers interested. If you have too much, frustrated and stressed-out readers might throw your book against the wall. Too much suspense can even backfire - if you try to keep your readers constantly on edge, they can stop taking things seriously and the end result is as though you never included any suspense at all.

So how can you tell if you’ve reached the right balance? Unfortunately, I can’t answer that for you. Some things really do require feedback from honest and insightful readers. Once you have that feedback, however, there are easy tricks to adjusting the level of suspense without a drastic re-write. Here are my five favorite methods.

Promises and Payoffs

INCREASE SUSPENSE by promising something huge and then giving your reader something unexpected. To borrow an example from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, imagine a teenage boy and girl sneaking into an empty building. Everything from the costumes to the lighting is designed to make you uneasy about the girl’s safety but, in the end, she’s the vampire. Give the audience something sensational and they won’t be disappointed that you didn’t deliver on what you originally promised.

DECREASE SUSPENSE by promising less than you plan to deliver. For example, if you plan to kill off a character as they walk through a dark alley, let them worry about being mugged rather than murdered. Not only is it less suspenseful, the payoff is more shocking.

Characters are Crucial

INCREASE SUSPENSE by shifting the focus to a character who’s more involved in the action or one who has more at stake. Even if you have a single POV character, another can come in and demand that character’s attention, along with the readers’.

DECREASE SUSPENSE by focusing on a character who’s more concerned with a secondary goal. Subplots are a fantastic way to give your readers some room to breathe.

Calm vs. Chaos

INCREASE SUSPENSE by cutting back on the action. Suspense flourishes in the quiet moments when your characters have time to think and to anticipate what may be in store for them.

DECREASE SUSPENSE by giving your characters a big, exciting mess to deal with. Even when that mess causes more problems and puts more pressure on your characters in the long run, you’ve still created an oasis where both they and the readers are too distracted to worry about how the big picture will pan out.

Devil’s in the Details

INCREASE SUSPENSE by concentrating on the details of the setting. Horror movies are great at this - every creak of a door, every shadow across a wall keeps the audience immersed in the experience and tense with anticipation.

DECREASE SUSPENSE by breaking the “show, don’t tell” rule and allow exposition to help you move things along. You don’t need to take readers through every aspect of your story in excruciating detail. It’s okay to gloss over some things and it helps readers relax because they know you’re not going to be springing any surprises on them just yet.

Ticking Time-Bomb

INCREASE SUSPENSE by imposing a deadline that your characters struggle to meet. It’s one of the oldest and most obvious tricks in the book, but very effective.

DECREASE SUSPENSE by allowing your characters to believe that the deadline has been met or pushed back. If they (and the readers) believe that they’ve accomplished their goal or bought themselves more time, it relieves pressure and allows everyone to relax until the truth’s revealed.

@otome-reviews Remember when I asked you about Masanari and Saizo in a duel...Saizo pretty much owns the snake man in melee due to his long hair. 😀

Q&A: Long Hair

Is it not yet completely insane for someone who engages in combat a lot to have long, say shoulder-length, hair? I saw your posts about armour and put two and two together when you said anything that can be grabbed isn’t that good of an idea, so hair…?

This one’s pretty simple; you’ve identified one of the two main issues.

So, long hair is a detriment to combat effectiveness, but it’s not terminal. You don’t want hair that will get in the way, and you don’t want hair that can be grabbed. After that, do what you want.

So, long hair will, usually, get in the way. No matter your best intentions, it’ll fall in front of your face, get in your eyes, and, generally, make a nuisance out of itself at every opportunity. Before someone tries to come down on me for this: I’ve had long hair for most of my life. I know.

The simplest answer is: You bind it back in a tight ponytail; that will keep it out of the way. Historically, this has been men’s fashion in a number of cultures. Ideally a shorter ponytail is better than a longer one, but to some extent, it doesn’t matter. Buns are also an option, as are dreadlocks and tight braids. Anything that keeps the hair out of the way will do the job.

So, why bother? Because in colder climates, long hair will keep your head warm. Hair is a fantastic insulator, and if you’re living on a tundra, that will help keep your head warm when you’re out working. When you’re fighting, you’ll probably want to tie it back.

The other reason is, yes, someone can grab you by your hair. There’s a couple caveats here, and they depend on the kind of combat you’re in. In a fight with bladed weapons, going for someone’s hair is a good way to get carved up. You’re giving up one hand, and limiting your mobility, and hoping your opponent won’t use one hand to grab your weapon arm, and the other one to run you through repeatedly. This is less of a consideration if your foe is wearing armor, though, at that point, you probably are as well, and getting into the situation in the first place is going to be harder.

Also, ponytails blunt the effect of having your hair pulled. I suspect this has something to do with how it distributes the force across the scalp, but a ponytail will not offer the same control grabbing a fist full of loose hair will.

In ranged combat, somewhat obviously, you’re not going to be getting a grip on someone’s hair, and some the same considerations apply as the previous example. If you do get in close enough to grab their hair, they’ll probably pump a couple rounds into you.

Not, strictly related, but long hair can be a detriment when working around heavy machinery. If it gets caught, it can get pulled in. So, that’s something else to avoid. At that point, even the ponytail can be serious safety issue. This is more of a general, “yeah, long hair can be a detriment, than a specific issue, and shoulder length shouldn’t be a problem.

So, no, nothing insane about having hair, that’s normal, and long hair is common enough, but it does come with special considerations.

-Starke

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Q&A: Long Hair was originally published on How to Fight Write.

SWTOR MEMORIES

I really....really love this game. So much that I would ask my dad to borrow his laptop to play this game late at night while they were sleeping (since it had better specs than my old one...mine kept crashing T_T).

There were a number of memorable moments in game...and I name a few...

1. UNITED FORCES UPDATE (AKA MASSIVE SERVER MERGE) : I was a member of Ruinous Guild (EMPIRE), one of the biggest guilds of the former Harbinger server... And we were reunited with other members of our sister guilds from other servers inside our guild flagship. We did our shinenigans for group picture taking...some RPing (unfortunately I am quite an introvert even in game) But I had fun meeting new faces and perks of the "other club"

2. Knights of The Fallen Empire / Knights of the Eternal Throne stories : What I like in SWTOR, STORY QUESTS! And for me, nothing is as good as KoTFE and KoTET expansions (since I can replay them and experience the story again, unlike class, Flashpoint stories.)

(Note: includes Iokath and Nathema FP pics)

3. WORKING HARD FOR BETTER STRONGHOLD and DECORATIONS : When I first played my game...I remember owning starter strongholds from capital planets. One guild member invited me in their beautiful Nar Shaddaa Stronghold I got envious of his in-game wealth and dedication to design them (i was an F2P that time...so I was basically a beggar inside his "mansion")

But even so, I did try gathering my resources until such time I got my very first subscriber status (i think after 3 years of playing on-off) that lasted 6 months. And I got my dream house.

*goodbye 50 million credits!

And there were more unforgetable moments not listed here, such as the steep competition of PvP... (that I whacked my brains to devise a strategy...to sit on a corner while earning "defender" points doing NOTHING but watch my teammates outdo each other for kill counts. Just kidding tho)

...queing and grinding KUAT DRIVE YARD and HAMMER STATION FLASHPOINTS, especially during double xp week...got to max those toons to earn special gear!

...and OPERATIONS...YOU GOT TO LOVE THEM especially when it was your first time...

...LOVE THEIR EARFUL ARGUMENTS over the CHAT, I mean...love them when they go berserk and give you a piece of their mind while you laugh (secretly) at their own measly skills, but I won't discuss that.

On the whole, this game had brought me good memories and I would live to play again...

But..life sometimes forces us to let go of the things we cherish. That we have to reasses our priorities and pursue them instead...and mine got a little bit sooner than I would have hoped.

Perhaps I am writing this to remind my "future" self that should I have the time to go back and play PC games...I should return to this game.

AFTER ALL, I NEED TO GET BACK THOSE MILLIONS OF CREDITS I SPENT! Hehehe!

#2 (#1) (V-Day Edition)

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Beat Takeshi stars as Hideyoshi in “Kubi” 首, a movie where he’s also involved in the scriptwriting, and also is the director! 

To think that this showed up not long after I shared that old Toyota advertisement! However, unlike the more positive Hideyoshi image in the Toyota ad, the PR of this movie says that the plot follows the “Hideyoshi is the mastermind behind Honnouji” conspiracy. So we can expect a scheming, or even a somewhat sinister Hideyoshi in this production. 

加瀬亮 Kase Ryou will play as Nobunaga, 西島秀俊 Nishijima Hidetoshi as Mitsuhide, and 浅野忠信 Asano Tadanobu in double role as both Kuroda Kanbei and Hideyoshi’s brother Hidenaga. 

It’s always a little strange to me, to see a ridiculously old Hideyoshi when the actor cast as Nobunaga is much younger, but it’s a thing that’s very commonly done in Japanese live action productions and illustrated artwork.

Slbp Three Unifiers (fanmade)

My tumblr is acting up again... Finally, its done. Each guy has a specific motif tjat relates to their important moment in the history. (had to repost this thing again because my phone is acting up as usual)

Please reblog only. ENJOY!

More Wallpapers Click Here

Are you ready to take your next steps as Lady Katakura?

😭😭

Kojuro's Blushing Face