Suspense Think of a suspenseful story that you have seen, heard, or read (books, short stories, movies, etc). What was the story about? What made it suspenseful? Give details. How did the suspense make you (the audience) feel? Explain.

So What’s the Difference Between Mystery and Suspense? Let’s ask writer/director and so called “Master of Suspense” Alfred Hitchcock (pictured right) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xs111uH9ss (click to play)

Suspense… More than a Mystery Suspense demands engagement in the story, as the author asks us to question: What Happens Next? In trying to determine that, it can leave us frustrated, scared, worried, wondering, or excited. Ultimately, suspense leaves the reader anticipating what will happen next but not trying to solve it, like a mystery.

Suspense The growing interest and excitement readers experience while awaiting a climax or resolution in a work of literature. To build suspense, an author may use foreshadowing – or clues to what will happen next – as well as a number of other literary devices.

However, suspense also involves the pacing of a story. Emotion & Pacing So the big thing is emotional involvement. Suspense causes an emotional reaction in the reader, beyond mere curiosity, it typically plays on fear or excitement. However, suspense also involves the pacing of a story.

So What is Pacing? Simply put, it is slowing down or speeding up of the story at certain key points. Slowing down and speeding up, a story, both increase a reader’s anticipation. Think about the music in a scary film, it often starts slow and soft, but builds louder and faster. Need an Example? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx9ap8yfgps

Foreshadowing The author’s use of clues that hint at events that will occur later in the plot; helps build suspense and prepare readers for what’s to come This jungle picture foreshadows the setting of the story we’re reading soon…

Foreshadowing Read the following passage from the short story “The Flowers”: By twelve o’clock, her arms laden with sprigs of her findings, she was a mile or more from home. She had often been as far before, but the strangeness of the land made it not as pleasant as her usual haunts. It seemed gloomy in the little cove in which she found herself. The air was damp, the silence close and deep. What does this seem to be foreshadowing?

Practice: How does Alfred Hitchcock use details within the following clip to create suspense? (lighting, objects, dialogue, facial expressions) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9mJ2oBONug

Your Turn: How does Quentin Tarantino use details within the following clip to create suspense? (lighting, music, objects, dialogue, facial expressions) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W5MisInNfE

Let’s read... Today, we will read Books 13-21, looking primarily for how well Homer increases the suspense before the final confrontation with the suitors. Fill out the questions on books 13-21 as you read.