The Elements of Suspense

All Stories Contain Certain Elements Plot Character Setting Dialogue Narrative

Suspense a condition of uncertainty or excitement, as in awaiting a an outcome, usually accompanied by a degree of apprehension or anxiety. Dictionary.com

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

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

Suspense Suspense is a feeling of uncertainty and anxiety about the outcome of certain actions, most often referring to an audience's perceptions in a dramatic work. Suspense may operate in any situation where there is a lead-up to a big event or dramatic moment, with tension being a primary emotion felt as part of the situation.

Suspense In the kind of suspense described by film director Alfred Hitchcock, an audience experiences suspense when they expect something bad to happen and have (or believe they have) a superior perspective on events in the drama's hierarchy of knowledge, yet they are powerless to intervene to prevent it from happening.

Ways to deepen suspense… Dreams foreshadowing what may happen showing the character’s deepest fears, his haunting past

Foreshadowing Foreshadowing is the author’s use of clues to hint at what might happen later in the story. Writers use foreshadowing to build their readers’ expectations and to create suspense. This is used to help readers prepare for what is to come.

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

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

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

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

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

The premiere writer / directors considered master of suspense… Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock August 13, 1899-April 29, 1980 Son of greengrocers William and Emma Devout Catholic Educated at Jesuit’s St. Ignatius College Left school at 16 to study engineering and navigation at University of London

Themes Concerning People Terror inflicted upon the often unknowing and innocent victim Innocent people caught up in events they cannot control The likeable criminal

Themes Concerning the Mind Guilt (real or the appearance of it) Redemption Preferred to use suspense rather than surprise

Suspense vs. Surprise Hitchcock preferred the use of suspense over the use of surprise in his films. In surprise, the director assaults the viewer with frightening things. In suspense, the director tells or shows things to the audience which the characters in the film do not know, and then artfully builds tension around what will happen when the characters finally learn the truth.

Hitchcock was fond of illustrating this point with a short thought – "There's two people having breakfast and there's a bomb under the table. If it explodes, that's a surprise. But if it doesn't..."