L. Ron Hubbard lived a remarkably adventurous and productive life. His versatility and rich, imaginative scope both spanned and ranged far beyond his extensive literary achievements and creative influence. A writer’s writer of enormous talent and energy, the breadth and diversity of his writing ultimately embraced more than 560 works and over 63 million words of fiction and nonfiction over his fifty-six-year writing career.
Early into Ron’s writing career, when he had already established a commanding reputation in many of the genres of popular fiction, he was repeatedly asked to share the secrets of his success with the readers of writers’ magazines. He was glad to do so; there is quite a file of his essays published in those days.
Here, from the June 1937 issue of Author and Journalist—one of the most prominent writers’ magazines of the time—is one of those pieces.
The question he poses in the article goes to the heart of the creative process: What rivets a reader to the page, “tensely wondering which of two or three momentous things is going to happen first”? The answer L. Ron Hubbard provides, by insightful analysis and example, is both witty and compelling.
We use it, along with a number of other essays by Ron, in the annual Writers of the Future workshop. Participants often remark on how relevant it is despite the passage of time. Why shouldn’t it be? Fashions in storytelling change, but story remains the same. Here, then, is L. Ron Hubbard’s “Suspense,” one of the key building blocks to writing a really good story.