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I'm interested in creating tension and the different tactics writers can use to build suspense.

There are a few approaches to this. Some writers tend to play their cards close to their chest, only revealing the big surprise at the latest possible instant. Other times, a writer will reveal bits of information over time and clearly build/foreshadow the reveal. Sometimes the reveal comes earlier than expected.

I think all of this relates to building tension and each approach makes the story feel a little different.

I recently listened to a writer talk about how she builds suspense when writing thrillers, and she had some really smart things to say. Specifically, the scariest moment is before the big reveal, before you know exactly what's coming. If you can stretch that out, you can build tension. The reveal itself is almost a break in the tension.

She used the movie Jaws as an example--a person is swimming and suddenly you hear the ominous music. You know the shark is there, that it's coming for her, but you can't see it. Then you see the swimmer get jostled around, and the whole time you're wondering "will she make it?" Her point was that the reader's hope for the character to make it out okay adds to the tension and suspense.

It sounds pretty straightforward, but I still think there's stuff to talk about here.

One thing I've always felt is that holding off too long for a big reveal can make the reveal a letdown, especially if you know it's coming (or are otherwise unimpressed by the time you know what's going on). I think there's also a tendency to want to hold back cool information and save it for later. But playing you cards early means you can give the reader cool info faster--and then deal with the fallout and reactions to the big reveal.

Thoughts? Examples of this done well or done badly? Your own experiences?

Idk, I believe in the holding back and keeping the mystery. My story Memories: Lost No one knew who the queen really was until the last chapter, or how the king died or Scot (the guard leader) father died. Everyone seems to really like the mystery of it. It would be so stupid to read on and on if they gave you all that in the beginning.

I like giving hints and giving small fragments of thoughts, dreams, diaries anything that slowly shows what has happened...

I like it when authors plant hints as you go along, personally. The kinds where you do not notice them in the first read, but then go back and think, "Wait, that makes so much sense! Why did I not notice that before?"

Rather famous, but everything leading up to Snape killing Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (and due to its meme status on the net, I feel no guilt for posting it without spoiler text, as it is as well known as Rosebud and Luke's father now). The Unbreakable Vow, Snape's allegiance, Draco's plan, Legimens/Occlumens, the cursed ring, Dumbledore's behind-the-scenes knowledge---all of them, little pieces hiding in the text, building up to the moment that took away the best ally Harry had and shook the faith in where Snape stood.

Re-reading it a second time, you can pick up on those little hints that were hiding in plain sight all along. One of them for me was the fact that Dumbledore and Snape stared at each other before Snape killed him. They are both skilled Legimens/Occlumens, and it was a guess that they had a conversation via mind link, which meant Dumbledore might have asked him to do it. This was confirmed in Deathly Hallows. Not that he really had a choice; whether Snape wanted to do the deed or not, the Unbreakable Vow would have forced him to do it anyway, or take his own life. And even if you forgot about that when the death scene came up, getting the refresh of the vow on the second read not only makes Snape's allegiance interesting, but it was obvious foreshadowing that was there all along.

Red herrings are another favorite. My Hairiest Adventure in the Goosebumps series had a good one (that also tied in with the "hiding clues in plain sight" thing mentioned above): In the beginning of the book, all the kids found an expired bottle of tanning lotion and used it. The protagonist thought the tanning lotion was behind his sudden growth of tons of hair that keeps growing back thicker and longer when he shaves it. The twist in the end is that all the kids were really dogs in an experiment to turn them into humans---thus making the tanning lotion irrelevant. Going back, it was made clear that the protagonist was unable to sweat, had kind of droopy ears, and had a few other things common in dogs, plus---let us all be honest, the tanning lotion being the cause was a huge stretch, even for this series. Some savvier readers got the twist before the end, but for me, it was another, "Oh! How did I miss this earlier?" moment.

Those are precisely the kinds of suspense and surprises I like in a story. I think with any story, though, it is the pacing that really makes it. Never give your reader too much to divulge at once, but do not be selfish, either. I guess a good rule of thumb is to give away information as it becomes relevant.

Yeah, I agree with that saying to a point. I think if you reveal some bit of really cool information earlier than you first intended, you may find that you come up with even better stuff later, or that the reveal starts something else in motion.

Unless it's a mystery, I think the key is to at least have a really good reason for not revealing the information.

And I agree that a lot of the fine-tuning comes during revisions.

Another way to look at this relates to romantic tension. One romantic plot I wrote had the characters hooking up too quickly, which actually damaged the romantic tension of the story. It was changed and the book now feels a lot sexier (even though it has less sex) because of the tension between the characters. When they finally kiss, the tension of "will it work out between them?" starts to diminish.

That might have been me, actually. I often mention it when threads about romance come up. XP

Love triangles aren't used as often as I thought they might be. At least, I don't think so. A lot of romances I've read are pretty much guy, girl, maybe some friends of either party that try to push them together, and then the bad guy/people trying to keep them apart for social reasons.

I think a well-done triangle could add a whole lot of tension, drama, and or humor. But I'd like it more if it was one of those triangles where the person being sought after is truly in love with both of the people pursuing him/her. None of this "I love him, he loves me, but I'm really good friends with this other guy who loves me." THAT, in my opinion, is overdone.

In terms of examples, I don't have any good ones. But one I found to be super-tacky and yet somewhat entertaining was the one with the tweens in DNAngel.

Girl likes Boy.
Boy likes Girl's Twin Sister
Girl's Twin Sister likes Boy's Alter Ego

All sorts of messed up fun available there. xd

I am neutral towards love triangles, provided that there is actual tension in them. Limyaeel puts it nicely, and her stance is pretty much the same as mine: all characters must be people, the choice must actually be a choice (no "this one is handsome and good" and "this one is a nice guy, but is over-possessive and clearly not right for the heroine," and especially not one love interest as the hero and the other the villain), and there needs to be actual reasons for the triangle to exist in the first place.

I only have one love triangle in my work:

-Girl falls head-over-heels for guy
-Guy turns out to be a psychotic, emotionally abusive, obsessive maniac
-Girl catches the warning signs and leaves guy, finds a better boyfriend and eventually gets engaged to him
-Psycho ex-boyfriend still pines for girl, and seeks for any way to make her his
-Lots of events are put into play because of psycho boyfriend's obsession, including getting several people killed or scarred for life

Even though the stalker boyfriend is exactly that, I still try to paint him as sympathetic. He truly does love her; he just does not realize that his actions are creepy, dangerous, and driving her away from him. And they did have chemistry before his darker side came out. His ex-girlfriend was just smart enough to realize that even though she still loves him as well, that he is simply not a good choice for her.

She does struggle a lot with the decision to leave him, and realizes that she is happier when she is away from him. That does not mean her love dies the moment she finds a new beau. It fades, but it is still there, even if she only keeps it to herself. Poor girl has a gentle heart. The "triangle" only stays because while she has moved on, the psycho boyfriend has not, so it pretty much becomes Number Four because of it.

Two love triangles in published works that I feel are rather strong are Erik-Christine-Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera (the book does it a lot better than the 2004 movie. Also, I think I might have subconsciously based some of the above triangle on this one), and Emily-Victor-Victoria in Corpse Bride.

For the first, I love how romance was not necessarily the driving force behind the triangle, it was happiness. Christine was deeply, and truly in love with Raoul, but felt immense pity for Erik, and that pity kept her in his clutches. While the film had the "he let her go" ending, in the book, it was that, but with the addition of compromise: Christine would be Erik's "living wife." And he died of a broken heart three weeks later, but he had been happy enough to get a kiss from the girl he loved.

In Corpse Bride, I know Tim Burton and Co. worked really hard to get the balance right. They seriously worked on the dynamic for ten years because they wanted to make sure both Emily and Victoria were strong, different characters with things Victor could find in common with each of them, but also show that Victor was not a jerk toying with both of their hearts, just a poor sap thrown into impossible circumstances (the animators admitted they were trying to make him as pathetic as possible. <3). And I think their hard work paid off, at least in my interpretation:

-Victor does love both girls in different ways; Victoria seemed to be what he wanted in a loving relationship, while Emily is...more than a friend, but not quite a lover---someone whom he enjoys being in her company.
-Victoria is a vigilant woman who is willing to do all that she can to make sure Victor is home and safe, and she does not blame him for the things that happened, or that he was with Emily for most of the film---which means she trusts him even when he is apart from her, and is willing to stay on his side through thick and thin.
-Emily felt that Victor was hers, but realized that he was not, and while she still loves him, she knew it was better to do the right thing than steal the same dream she once had from someone else.

All three are sympathetic, and none of them come off as the villain. Victor had real chemistry with each girl, and he really did try to be sympathetic to Emily's plight. Even though he knew his heart was elsewhere, he did try to comfort Emily, to the point where when he thought he lost Victoria, he offered himself to her, because if he could not be with Victoria, he could at least try to move on and make Emily happy.