The Elements of Suspense

1. The Elements of Suspense

2. Plot Character Setting Dialogue Narrative All Stories Contain Certain Elements

3. Suspense Anxiety or apprehension resulting from an uncertain, undecided, or mysterious situation Dictionary.com

4. In suspense there must be an unknown; a suspicion, a mystery, a danger we expect

5. Suspense(mystery, intrigue, tension)is built with: • Facts • Innuendo • Atmosphere • Action

6. Ways to deepen suspense… Dreams • foreshadowing what may happen • showing the character’sdeepest fears, his haunting past

7. Ways to deepen suspense… Clues • journals / diaries / letters / notes / pictures, etc. • physical evidence that can be used to determine time of death, how, and where

8. Foreshadowing • Foreshadowing: when an author mentions or hints at something that will happen later in the story • FORE means ahead. • A SHADOW is a glimpse of something without the complete details.

9. Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived with her mother. Her mother asked her to take her old and lonely grandmother some food one day."Don't stop along the way. Go straight to your Grandma's house and back. Don't talk to any strangers and watch out for the wolf in the woods! Now get along!" This is an example of foreshadowing. Little Red Riding Hood’s mother is warning her about the wolf in the woods, which hints at what may happen next.

10. Ways to deepen suspense… The Weather • the season can match or contrast the characters’ emotional state

11. Ways to deepen suspense… The Senses • the smell of blood, the stench of an alley • the taste of fear • reaction to finding a dead body • the feel of blood-soaked clothing

12. Ways to deepen suspense… The Villain • his/her motivations or intentions • simple greed, jealousy, money • the complicated serial killer mind

13. Ways to deepen suspense… Other characters • plant red herrings • shift suspicion onto them