How to Create a Thriller Webtoon: Building Suspense That Keeps Readers Scrolling

The scroll continues. Something is wrong. The reader knows it, feels it in their chest, but they can’t stop. They have to see what happens next. That’s the thriller webtoon working exactly as intended.

Thrillers exploit a fundamental human drive: the need to resolve uncertainty. Done right, your readers will lose hours scrolling through a story they’re genuinely afraid to see unfold. Here’s how to build that addictive tension.

Why the Webtoon Format Excels at Thrillers

The Scroll Creates Dread

Most mediums give away too much. A book lets you flip ahead. A movie shows the whole frame. But webtoons? The reader only sees what you let them see, exactly when you decide.

Control What’s Visible:

• The threat can be just below the fold
• Readers physically scroll toward danger
• You decide when the reveal happens
• Partial information builds paranoia

The Approach:

• Show the character before the threat
• Let readers scroll toward what they fear
• The anticipation is often worse than the reveal
• They bring their own dread

Pacing Through Space:

• Slow scrolls for mounting tension
• Fast scrolls during action/chase
• A single image stretching down = time slowing
• White space as held breath

The vertical format is a natural thriller machine. Use it.

Mobile Reading Enhances Isolation

Your reader is probably alone with their phone. That’s ideal for thrillers:

Intimacy:

• Private experience with the threat
• No one to share the tension with
• The screen is a window they can’t close
• Vulnerability enhances immersion

Attention:

• Phone readers are engaged or gone
• The narrow focus eliminates distractions
• Everything you show matters
• No peripheral comfort

Session Behavior:

• Readers often binge at night
• Alone, in bed, lights off
• Your creepy atmosphere has backup
• The real world supports your fiction

Building Tension: The Fundamentals

Information Asymmetry

The foundation of thriller tension:

Reader Knows More Than Character: Classic dramatic irony. We see the danger they don’t.

• Creates screaming-at-the-screen tension
• We want to warn them
• Their ignorance becomes unbearable
• Every innocent action feels wrong

Character Knows More Than Reader: Opposite approach. We’re kept in the dark.

• Paranoia because we don’t know what’s happening
• Character seems unreliable
• Every revelation recontextualizes
• The mystery compounds

Reader and Character Know the Same: We discover together.

• Maximum identification with protagonist
• Shared vulnerability
• Reveals hit us simultaneously
• First-person thriller energy

Shift between these modes. A story stuck in one gear becomes predictable.

The Ticking Clock

Urgency through deadlines:

Explicit Clocks:

• “24 hours to find the antidote”
• Countdown panels
• Time stamps between scenes
• Literal ticking

Implicit Clocks:

• “Before they realize she’s gone”
• “While the boss is distracted”
• Approaching footsteps
• Any finite window

Consequences of Missing the Deadline: The clock only works if running out of time means disaster. Make the stakes clear. Don’t create fake urgency.

The Point of No Return

Moments when things become irreversible:

What They Are:

• The protagonist commits fully
• There’s no going back
• The situation has escalated
• Stakes are now real

Why They Work:

• Safety is gone
• Reader can’t hope for easy escape
• Forces characters to confront
• Raises the floor on consequences

Where to Place Them:

• End of act one (locks in the thriller plot)
• Midpoint (raises stakes again)
• Before climax (no turning back now)
• Multiple small ones throughout

Each point of no return should feel necessary and earned, not arbitrary.

Visual Tension Techniques

Panel Composition for Unease

How to make panels feel wrong:

Unconventional Framing:

• Extreme angles (very high, very low)
• Dutch angles (tilted horizon)
• Too-close crops (claustrophobia)
• Too-distant shots (isolation, exposure)

Negative Space as Threat:

• Empty areas in the panel
• Dark corners where something could be
• Open backgrounds behind characters
• The space you DON’T fill

Unbalanced Composition:

• Characters pushed to edges
• Heavy elements on one side
• Visual instability
• Something feels off before readers know why

Eye Direction:

• Characters looking offscreen at threat we can’t see
• Eyes darting to corners
• Avoiding looking at something
• Making readers search the panel

Darkness and Shadow

The thriller’s natural habitat:

Strategic Darkness:

• Obscure threatening elements
• Partial reveals
• The shape in the shadow
• Just enough to imagine worse

Contrast for Impact:

• Dark panels, then sudden bright (shock)
• Bright panels, then darkness (dread)
• Harsh shadows on faces
• Light source as character (flickering, failing)

Silhouettes:

• The figure you can’t identify
• Approaching shapes
• Someone behind glass or screens
• Human, but details denied

What Darkness Hides: The seen threat is scary. The unseen threat is scarier. Show enough to confirm danger, not enough to fully define it.

The Threat Panel

How to make something look dangerous:

Size:

• Larger panels for threats
• Dwarf the protagonist
• Fill the screen with what’s wrong
• Massive reveals after tense buildup

Detail:

• More detail on threats = more real
• Less detail = more unknown
• Strategic focus tells readers what matters
• The eye goes where detail is

Expression and Body Language:

• Subtle wrongness (smile that’s too wide)
• Obvious menace (aggressive posture)
• Predatory stillness
• The moment before action

Sound Effects: Visual but work like sound:

• Creaking, dripping, breathing
• Sudden loud sounds (CRACK, BANG)
• The silence before
• Rhythmic sounds building

Pacing the Thriller

The Rhythm of Tension

Thrillers can’t be tense all the time:

Build, Release, Build Higher:

• Tension increases to peak
• Some release (false safety, revelation, action)
• Next build starts from higher floor
• Overall trajectory is up

The Breathing Room:

• Moments of safety (real or perceived)
• Character reflection and planning
• Reader processes what happened
• Essential for tension to have impact

What Breaks Tension:

• Information revealed
• Action completed
• Character safe (for now)
• Comedy beat (carefully)

What Builds Tension:

• New information (threatening)
• New unknown (what’s coming)
• Confinement (fewer options)
• Time pressure (running out)

Scene Construction

Each scene needs shape:

Opening Hook: First panels establish tone. Something slightly wrong, even in “calm” scenes. Readers should never feel fully safe.

Escalation: Situation worsens through the scene. New information, new complications, walls closing in. Each development raises stakes.

Crisis Point: The scene’s peak tension. A decision, confrontation, or revelation that can’t be avoided.

Resolution: But not complete resolution. Solve one problem, reveal another. The hook for next scene is embedded in this one.

Episode Structure

For serialized webtoons:

Cold Open: Start in action or tension. No warm-up. Readers are here for thrills.

Episode Tension Arc: Each episode should have its own tension curve, not just serve the larger story. Something should build and (partially) resolve.

The Cliffhanger: Ending on unresolved tension:

• A threatening development
• A reveal that changes everything
• A character in danger
• A question that demands answer

Not every episode needs a cliffhanger, but they’re the genre’s bread and butter.

Character in Thrillers

The Protagonist

Who they are determines what’s threatening:

Everyperson:

• Ordinary person, extraordinary situation
• Reader relates directly
• Every viewer could be them
• Vulnerability is built-in

Professional:

• Cop, agent, investigator
• Competence makes threats feel bigger
• If THEY’RE worried, we’re worried
• Can add procedural tension

The Hunted:

• Someone with a past
• Running from consequences
• Paranoia is justified
• They don’t deserve safety

The Investigator:

• Seeking truth actively
• Digging into danger
• We follow their discoveries
• But discovery means exposure

Supporting Characters

Everyone’s suspect until they’re not:

The Ally:

• Do we trust them?
• They’re helpful, but…
• Could be playing long game
• Trust is thriller currency

The Antagonist (Visible):

• The threat we can see
• Formidable and present
• But maybe not the real threat
• The decoy or the distraction

The True Threat:

• May be hidden until late
• Possibly someone we trusted
• The reveal recontextualizes everything
• Betrayal compounds threat

Victims:

• Show stakes are real
• They didn’t make it
• Could be protagonist next
• Generate sympathy and fear

The Antagonist

Threats need development too:

Types of Thriller Antagonist:

• The Predator (hunting protagonist)
• The Conspiracy (systemic threat)
• The Unknown (unidentified danger)
• The Internal (protagonist’s own mind)
• The Force (disaster, countdown, disease)

What Makes Them Threatening:

• Competence (they’re good at this)
• Resources (they have advantages)
• Knowledge (they know things protagonist doesn’t)
• Presence (they could be anywhere)
• Patience (they don’t need to rush)

Revealing the Antagonist: Don’t show everything immediately. Reveal in stages:

1. Effects of the threat
2. Partial glimpses
3. Methods and patterns
4. The full confrontation

Types of Thriller Webtoons

Psychological Thriller

The threat is internal or ambiguous:

Elements:

• Unreliable perspective
• “Is this really happening?”
• Internal demons manifesting
• Paranoia as plot driver

Visual Techniques:

• Distorted panels during stress
• Reality bending (perspective shifts)
• The protagonist watching themselves
• Visual representation of mental state

Challenges:

• Can feel slow without physical action
• Needs clear rules for ambiguity
• Reader must trust the payoff
• Resolution must satisfy

Action Thriller

Physicality and danger:

Elements:

• Chase and pursuit
• Fight or flight decisions
• Environmental threats
• The body in danger

Visual Techniques:

• Dynamic panel compositions
• Motion and impact
• Environmental storytelling
• Clear action geography (where is everyone?)

Challenges:

• Maintaining tension between action peaks
• Not exhausting the reader
• Stakes beyond survival
• Action that serves story

Conspiracy Thriller

Trust nothing:

Elements:

• Who can protagonist rely on?
• Systems are corrupted
• Truth is hidden
• Every answer raises questions

Visual Techniques:

• Surveillance imagery
• Crowds where threat hides
• Documents and evidence
• The web of connections

Challenges:

• Plotting complexity
• Keeping revelations satisfying
• Not confusing readers
• The conspiracy must make sense eventually

Survival Thriller

Stay alive:

Elements:

• Hostile environment
• Limited resources
• No help coming
• Primal stakes

Visual Techniques:

• Environmental hostility
• Physical deterioration
• Isolation in every panel
• The body failing

Challenges:

• Variety in survival scenarios
• Character beyond pure survival
• Resolution that satisfies
• Not just torture porn

Common Thriller Mistakes

Threat That Doesn’t Deliver

The Problem: Building to something that doesn’t match the buildup.

Why It Fails: Readers invested anxiety. Underwhelming payoff feels like betrayal. They won’t trust you again.

The Fix: Delivery must at least match setup. Often, the real payoff should be different (surprise) but of equal or greater magnitude.

Stakes That Evaporate

The Problem: Threatening consequences that never actually happen.

Why It Fails: If characters survive everything, danger becomes meaningless. Plot armor is tension poison.

The Fix: Make stakes real. Consequences must sometimes occur. Kill someone. Break something that can’t be fixed. Show that failure is possible.

Confusion Instead of Mystery

The Problem: Withholding information just to confuse, not to build tension.

Why It Fails: Mystery is “I don’t know, but I want to know.” Confusion is “I don’t know, and I don’t understand enough to want to know.”

The Fix: Withhold answers, not context. Readers should always understand enough to be invested, even when plot is unclear.

Relentless Tension Without Relief

The Problem: Never letting up, thinking constant tension = better thriller.

Why It Fails: Tension exhausts. Readers become numb. When everything’s urgent, nothing is.

The Fix: Build the contrast. Quiet moments make tense moments tenser. Characters having a breath makes their next danger worse.

The Obvious Twist

The Problem: “Surprising” reveal that everyone saw coming.

Why It Fails: Predictability kills thrillers. If readers are ahead of the story, they disengage.

The Fix: Two approaches:

• Hide better (misdirection, false leads)
• Acknowledge (the twist isn’t that it happened, but how)

Plant fair clues but bury them in noise. Or make the “obvious” suspect look too obvious, then actually be guilty for unexpected reasons.

Technical Considerations

Scroll Speed and Tension

How readers scroll affects their experience:

Fast Scroll = Release:

• Action scenes
• Chases
• Quick revelations
• Escape momentum

Slow Scroll = Dread:

• Approach to danger
• Detailed threat panels
• Environmental tension
• Stretching the moment

Forced Pause:

• Large detailed panels
• Text-heavy revelations
• Complex images to process
• Making readers linger

Design your panels to encourage appropriate scroll speed.

Text in Thrillers

Words carry tension:

Minimal Dialogue in Tense Scenes: Let visuals work. Silence is threatening. Sparse text builds unease.

Internal Monologue: Protagonist’s thoughts:

• Share their fear directly
• But not too much (maintain some mystery)
• Racing thoughts = shorter phrases
• Calm assessment = longer sentences

The Threatening Voice: Antagonist communication:

• How they communicate characterizes them
• Written messages, calls, direct speech
• What they say vs. how they say it
• Silence from them is its own threat

Color Psychology

Colors affect emotional state:

Thriller Palettes:

• High contrast (safety vs. danger)
• Desaturated (dread, illness, wrongness)
• Red accents (blood, danger, warning)
• Cold colors (isolation, fear)

Color Shifts:

• Warmer to colder as tension builds
• Sudden color change signals shift
• Consistent palette for threat
• The “wrong” color in a scene

Darkness as Color: Black and near-black do heavy lifting:

• Obscuring
• Threatening
• Compressing space
• The void where danger lives

Starting Your Thriller Webtoon

Development Process

1. Establish Your Core Fear

   • What makes YOUR skin crawl?
   • Personal fears translate best
   • Authentic discomfort can’t be faked
   • Specific is scarier than generic

2. Build Your Engine

   • What drives ongoing tension?
   • The central mystery or threat
   • What keeps readers coming back?
   • Sustainable for long-form serialization

3. Design Your Threat

   • What/who is the antagonist?
   • Their methods, patterns, capabilities
   • How they escalate
   • Why they’re targeting protagonist

4. Plot Your Revelations

   • What do readers learn when?
   • What information releases tension?
   • What information increases it?
   • The shape of uncertainty

5. Plan Your Setpieces

   • Key thriller moments
   • Maximum tension scenes
   • The reveals and confrontations
   • Work backward from these

For creators building thriller webtoons with layered suspense, Multic’s collaborative tools let you develop complex plots with writing partners while maintaining the secrets that make reveals land.

The best thrillers make readers physically uncomfortable and completely unable to stop scrolling. Understand what you’re exploiting—the human need for resolution, the fear of uncertainty—and wield it deliberately. Keep them scrolling into the dark.

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Related guides: How to Make a Webtoon, Mystery Comic Guide, Branching Narrative Writing, and Panel Layout Basics