Q14 - Any tips for burgeoning authors on how to write suspense?

A - As an author I have found that the most useful approach to writing courtroom drama is to put myself in the position of the jury. To keep them undecided and in suspense the evidence needs to point in both directions - innocence and guilt. A good example in my book is Thomas's evidence that his mother's murderers returned to his home to kill him a week before his stepmother's trial and mentioned her name while they were there. This might be seen as strengthening the prosecution case, but in fact it is too much of a good thing. There is no evidence to support Thomas's account and the defence is able to punch it full of holes when Thomas goes into the witness box.