In storytelling, we can define suspense as the slow-buildup of tension.

There are clichés. Footsteps on cobblestone. Door creaks. Unexplained moans.

Surprise is but an unforeseen story development. An unexpected visitor. A heart attack.

Is surprise suspense? Not really. Can it be? Yes, yes, yes.

For surprise not to turn readers off, it must be organic, within the context of the story and the reality of the story world. For the author in the last chapter to “rip” the face off the villain to reveal an alien may be a surprise, but its legitimacy to generate reader goodwill is doubtful.

How can the reader be satisfied with a story’s turn of events? A surprise must lead to the reader inching forward in his or her seat, tension gripping their collective spines.

First, create a set-up. What would the character naturally do? Think opposite. An exceedingly cautious, introverted, three-piece-suit banker shows up at a fund-raiser in drag. A total surprise to the person’s friends and colleagues. But it’s a one and done event. That is until two months later the banker raises eyebrows by driving along Main Street wearing a woman’s hat, and he’s not married.

Four months later the banker, while dressed in his normal suit, talks gibberish to a store clerk. The events become the grist of town gossip and heightened when a neighbor see’s the banker chopping off a chicken’s head in his backyard.

Bank customers begin to eye him with suspicion and caution. The tattered briefcase he carries to work each day spurs further speculation.

Second, each event could be labeled a “surprise” for not being what someone ordinarily expects of a banker. As the events build, so does suspense. The key being “what will happen next?”

Third, if the events are narrated by a character, not the banker, we have no glimpse of what’s in his mind. This choice of viewpoint adds to build surprises into suspense. The reader should be waiting with bated breath.

Is the banker really going mad? Is he creating a con? A defense to his embezzlement?

You can decide. But please, don’t think of the banker as an otherworld alien.