AH! Don't bring another phrase into this mad, mad melee of words! Arrgh! I don't even know *what* to think about this subject any more. I used to think I knew, and reading this debate has made me more confused than ever before. Thanks.
The problem is some of them really are legitimate. So I keep coming back expecting intelligent reviews, and they're always there. The problem is that there may be just as many stupid ones.
i didn't say to ignore reviews... just the votes and rankings... you're right to check out the reviews, to find ones that seem to be thoughtfully given... and yes, sad to say those are often in the minority...
On both ends of the spectrum too. There are people who just go "omg i luved it!" and give it 5 stars, and those that go "well, i didn't read it, but it sucked!" and give 1 star. I never trust any of the reviews, I try to rely more on my own judgement than anything else. People just don't give very well thought out reviews on amazon and sites like it. Especially those who review something before it comes out. What? What's that supposed to be??
Twinpanther that example can build suspense for me. I know the man is outside the house trying to get in. I don't know if he will be successful. I don't know if what will happen. The MC is trying to find a weapon. I don't know if he will find it. That does build suspense. But imagine of the scene were written from the bad guy's POV. He is trying to sneak into the house. He is patient. The MC doesn't know he is trying to sneak into the house.
There is some suspense, but it would still be strengthened if the reader knows the assailant is waiting just inside a doorway with a weapon at ready. You can draw it out by not revealing which doorway, as your protagonist passes from room to room. As I said before, you can do a certain amount with an implied threat. But you can do far more with a POV that allows you to selectively leak information that raises the pitch.
But an author could build suspense in that situation (without revealing the location of the assailant) by previously proving that he takes no prisoners, i.e., you never know what's around the corner and he is willing to kill off protagonists. In fact, I usually prefer atmospheric suspense (call it something other than suspense if you want, but that's basically what it is) to the heavy-handed camera pan to reveal the assailant or whatever. Mystery does the trick for me.
architectus. I appreciate that. I know I can't please everyone with my writing but as long as some feel suspense then I am happy. It is a supernatural suspense story though, so the thing is in the house sort of and it attacks the MC but the MC can not move fast enough to see it.
In a book written by Louise Lamour, entitled, "To the Far Blue Mountains," at the end of the book, the main character dies. It is written something like this: "And I died." Then there's a little more narration, stuff like, "I had a good life, and my children will grow up something something, yadda yadda." It doesn't really stipulate that he's writing from the Beyond or anything, he just says, "I died".