1. The Elements of Suspense

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

3. Suspense
According to Merriam-Webster online, suspense is “the feeling or state of nervousness or excitement caused by wondering what will happen.”

4. Plot:
Intro
The Dramatic Question
Conflict
The Twist
Conclusion

5. Introduction Here we meet the main characters and the main setting.
The premise of the story is introduced to us

6. The Dramatic Question
In suspense there must be an unknown; a suspicion, a mystery, a danger we expect
This is often part of the introduction

7. Conflict Character vs Character Character vs Self Character vs Nature
Character vs The Supernatural
Character vs Society
*Conflict is used to maintain our interest and build suspense

8. The Twist Something unexpected happens
The person we suspected in not really the villain
Essentially, there is an unexpected plot twist

9. Conclusion
The Dramatic Question in answered

10. Characters
The Hero: Usually flawed, but solves the mystery or answers the dramatic question
The Villain: Commits wrong doing, harms others, commits crimes

11. The Duality of Man Duality means two sided or having two qualities
In basic terms, we can think of man as being two parts: soul and body; good and evil.
Essentially, man is two-sided: he has his public appearance (the good) and his hidden side (the evil)

12. Characters & The Duality of Man
All characters (hero and villain) have the potential to show duality
Look for this when we look at stories by Poe

13. Connection
Think of examples in pop culture (stories, movies, TV, etc.) where we see the duality of man.
*For Example Walter White in Breaking Bad

14. Ways To Create Suspense
Narrative Elements
Ways To Create Suspense

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

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

17. 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

18. Ways to deepen suspense…
Pathetic Fallacy
The weather or the season match the characters’ emotional state

19. 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

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

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