I enjoy reading books and watching movies from all different types of genres.  Some of my favorite genres include romantic comedy, romantic suspense, comedy, and thrillers, but my very favorite genre would have to be suspense.  I have never actually thought about why I have been particularly drawn to this genre until this assignment and have realized that the suspense genre has always interested me from the time I was young.  When I would watch movies and read books as a kid, I always preferred the ones where you never really knew what would happen next.  I think I read just about every Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys book I could get my hands on as a child, while the movies I watched were more like Disney’s “The Rescuers” and “Robin Hood” than “Cinderella”.  For me, I think that I prefer this type of genre over the others because I really do not have all that much suspense and drama in my own life.  I like to escape into the different stories and try to figure out what will happen next.  In my life, I pretty much know what will happen next.  For instance, I know that tomorrow I will go to my classes, go to work, do some homework, and go to bed.  I never happen to fall upon some secret society and have to work out its mysteries or get a random phone call from someone with a bomb threat.  Reading suspense books and watching suspense movies provides a sense of adventure and excitement in my life that I would otherwise not have.

            After reading “Buckle Up for the Ride”, a chapter from Carolyn Wheat’s How to Write Killer Fiction, I have a better understanding of the suspense genre.  I now see that when a writing a book or a screenplay, one must subscribe to a particular pattern in order to ensure that the reader will feel certain emotions.  If I were to write a suspense novel or screenplay, I would definitely have to have some dimension of fear in the story.  Wheat compares reading a suspense novel to riding a rollercoaster.  When someone first gets on a rollercoaster, there is a sense of anticipation.  You must use this in your suspense novel in order to get the reader interested.  You must also create characters that your readers will be interested in.  You want your story to invoke a sense of fear and anticipation in your reader and to make them feel whatever your characters are feeling. 

            I think that knowing the history of a genre is very beneficial to a writer.  It helps to know what has worked in the past and what general formula has been used to capture an audience and get them to buy and enjoy your work.  If you do not follow the historically successful formula, you may not meet much success yourself as a writer of suspense.