Start with the End in Mind: How to Set the Stage for Suspense (guest post)
- C.C. King
- Sep 16
- 5 min read
One of my favorite things about hosting guest bloggers is getting to learn right alongside my readers.
Today I’m extra excited because suspense is at the heart of the novel I’m working on—which makes this topic feel especially relevant.
I’ve learned that building suspense isn’t only about the big reveal or the shocking twist. It’s about the choices we make on the page long before we get there—the setting, the mood, the tiny details that keep readers leaning forward.
That’s exactly what Celeste Fenton explores in today’s post: how to set the stage for suspense.
Celeste is a retired educator turned fiction writer whose mystery novel Lost Heart in King Manor shows just how powerful setting can be when it comes to creating tension.
In today's guest post, she shares how “starting with the end in mind” can transform the way we write suspense, making each scene more charged and intentional.
If you’re a writer looking to sharpen your suspense skills (or a reader curious about how it all works behind the scenes), you’ll love her insights.
—CC
Start with the End in Mind: How to Set the Stage for Suspense
by Celeste Fenton
Suspense doesn’t just live in the big twist or the villain’s reveal—it’s a pulse that runs through every scene, keeping readers leaning forward instead of checking their phones. The most effective suspense is built long before anything “happens.” It begins with the stage you set.
As a retired educator, I spent decades crafting lesson plans and lectures with one strategy that has stayed with me: start with the end in mind. I knew where I wanted my students to end up before I ever wrote the first question on the board. I approach suspense in the same way. When I know the ending—the reveal, the emotional payoff, the moment—I can layer the setting with clues, contrasts, and misdirection that point toward it without giving it away.
When I start a suspense scene, I think like a reader. What does the reader see, hear, and sense before the characters even speak? A dimly lit hallway with musty, peeling wallpaper is different from one with pristine walls and the faint scent of lavender. Both could host a dangerous encounter—but for the purpose of the story I’m crafting, I consider which primes readers for unease, a shocking contrast, or a misdirection.
Here are some other ways I craft suspense:
1. Use the Environment as a Character
Your setting should pull its weight in the tension game. Weather, light, sounds, and even temperature can foreshadow trouble. In my Mysteries of a Heart series, a sudden shift in weather—fog rolling over the water, a wind gust rattling a loose shutter—often signals that danger is about to close in. The key is subtlety. You’re not announcing, “A crime will happen now!” You’re letting the reader’s instincts whisper, “Something’s off here.”
2. Layer the Familiar with the Unsettling
Suspense thrives on contrast. Imagine a sunny children’s park… with a single empty swing swaying when there’s no wind. Or a friendly kitchen… where one drawer is slightly open, a knife missing. Familiarity lulls readers into comfort; the unsettling element yanks that comfort away. That jolt is what keeps them turning pages.
3. Control the Reader’s Gaze
Think of your setting as a camera lens. What do you focus on first? What do you withhold until later? If you describe a character’s nervous glance toward the window before you describe the figure standing outside, you’ve already planted seeds of dread. Suspense comes from pacing the reveal, giving just enough information to raise questions without answering them too soon.
4. Let the Senses Do the Heavy Lifting
Sight is obvious, but sound and smell can deepen unease. The faint drip of water in an otherwise silent room, the metallic tang of blood before the reader knows why it’s there—these details bypass logic and go straight to emotion. In my stories, I’ll often use a sound (footsteps, a creak in the floor) as the first signal that something is wrong. Readers instinctively know that sound means movement, and movement means someone…or something…is there.
5. Keep the Characters Grounded in the Space
Characters aren’t just floating heads delivering dialogue. They interact with the world around them. When they bump into a chair, fumble with a stuck door, or brush past an object that will matter later, they anchor the reader in the environment. This makes the eventual danger feel real, because it’s happening in a tangible, inhabited space.
In the end, setting the stage for suspense is about more than description—it’s about intention. You’re not just painting a backdrop. You’re manipulating mood, guiding focus, and quietly promising the reader that they are in good hands… even as you lead them into the dark.
Now it’s your turn! I hope you read Lost Heart in King Manor. What clues, visuals, sounds, and settings set up the suspense for you in the story. I’d love to hear your thoughts in this blog or on my blog at https://celestefenton.com.
—Celeste
About the Guest Blogger
"My writing is fueled by a lifelong love of mystery and a fascination with the complexities of the human heart. As a widow, mother of adult twin sons, proud grandmother, dog lover, and semi-retired educator, I believe I have enough real-world experience to weave imagination with insight to create stories rich with emotion and suspense.
When I'm not writing, reading, or plotting another plot twist, I like to explore small towns across America—setting out solo for month-long adventures much to the awe (and occasional alarm) of family and friends. My latest obsessions include escape rooms, mastering the perfect miter cut for a DIY bathroom remodel, training my cavalier spaniel to do a high five, and making the impossible decision of where to travel next."
Connect with Celeste:
Website: https://celestefenton.com
Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/CELESTE-FENTON/author/B0F5HTW7RK
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61575815274859
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/celeste-fenton-33811a357/
About Lost Heart in King Manor
published by Celeste Fenton, 348pp:
At 45, Gabby Heart has worked hard to bury heartbreak and achieve a peaceful life on Dost Island. She keeps busy teaching community classes, illustrating her friend's books, and helping her mother, Connie, run Ocean Current, the family art and gift shop. Life on the island is steady, quiet-safe.
But when her mother suffers a sudden health crisis, Gabby is pulled into a storm of family secrets, betrayal, and a dark legacy buried within the walls of the once-grand King Manor now transformed into ACHE (Adult Care and Health Enclave)-a state-of-the-art senior living and medical center-perched like a sentinel on the cliffs of Dost Island. Strange incidents begin to unfold, and it becomes clear: someone inside King Manor has a deadly agenda.
As a hurricane traps Gabby inside ACHE, she's forced to work alongside two very different men-her maddeningly attractive officemate and a charming new neighbor, both hiding dark secrets. One may be her salvation. The other could be her undoing. What begins as a search for answers quickly turns into a fight for survival-and a fight for her heart.
A twisty mystery with romantic suspense, Lost Heart in King Manor is peppered with humor and perfect for fans of strong heroines turned sleuth, dashing males, and quirky characters.
If you want to read more about Celeste or her novel, Lost Heart in King Manor, be sure to check out the other stops on the WOW Women on Writing Blog tour!
In the meantime, you can add Celeste's book to your Goodreads list. You can also purchase a copy on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or at Bookshop.org.
Peace & Plenty,
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