How does a writer blend the characteristics of "good" in a hero and the characteristics of "evil" in a villain to make both characters "real" to the reader?

From my own experience, the characteristics of the hero and villain evolve as the story progresses. I might start out with a simple notion of how I want to portray each character and the more involved I get in writing, the deeper I get into describing and delving into the psyche of my characters.

For instance, the villain in my first book, Destination Unknown, started off as a man you love to hate. By the end of the book, you couldn't believe he was doing the things he was doing and no one was able to stop him. In the sequel, Premonition, he has evolved to be the epitome of pure evil. I didn't intentionally set out to make him so evil, it was just a natural evolution of the character as the plot progressed.

How does a writer build suspense leading to the climax of the story without it appearing contrived? (In other words, a real page turner).

I'm an avid, so as I write, I'm looking at the story from both sides; the reader as well as the writer. I think keeping it real is the key. You can get as outrageous as you want in your writing, as your imagination guides you, but keeping it believable at the same time is the trick. I've been told that my chapter endings are real cliffhangers and have been asked time and again, how I do this. My only explanation is, that I do it by feel.

As I'm writing, I just let everything flow and when it feels right to me, that's when I end the chapter and as it turns out, it's usually with a cliffhanger. I don't worry about chapter length, word count, is there enough dialogue and all the other things I see authors worrying about, I just sit down and start writing and the story creates itself. I guess I'm lucky in that a lot of authors I know struggle from chapter to chapter. I just let it happen and so far it's been working for me.

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