1. Creating Suspense
Thrills & Chills Unit
ELA 7

2. Today’s Objectives:
Students will identify and analyze techniques writers use to create and build suspense
Analyze the reader’s response to suspense

3. What is suspense?

4. Suspense:
a feeling of anxiety or fear created by an author to keep readers guessing about the outcome of events
Think of that “sitting on the edge of your seat” feeling.

5. Suspense a “suspending” of our emotions
We know something is about to happen, we just don’t know what or when

6. Authors Create Suspense
They do it on purpose, especially in horror or action stories!
The longer the writer keeps the reader guessing, the greater the suspense.

7. “There is no terror in the [gun’s] bang, only in the
Alfred Hitchcock said ...
“There is no terror
in the [gun’s] bang,
only in the
anticipation of it.”
BANG!

8. Authors Create Suspense
There are various techniques authors use; today, you’ll learn about some of them.
You can also use these techniques in your own story writing!

9. Techniques for Creating Suspense

10. Techniques for Creating Suspense
Setting
Sensory Details
Diction
Foreshadowing
Plot Pacing
Slow Motion Plot Action
Rapid Motion Plot Action

11. Techniques for Creating Suspense
Omitting Information
Dramatic Irony
Point of View
First Person
Third Person Omniscient
Multiple Viewpoints
Cliffhanger
Red Herring

12. Setting
carefully choosing where and when a story takes place to create a desired mood

13. Setting Certain settings are associated with certain emotions.
Example:
deserted alleyway danger; dread
with broken
streetlamps

14. Use of Sensory Details
using the five senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, sound) to make readers feel as if they are right there in the story 14

15. an author’s word choice
Diction
an author’s word choice

16. Diction
Authors choose precise, accurate, and strong words to clarify information for the reader and to create desired moods and tones.
Single words or phrases can sometimes act as clues.

17. Diction
Use of words with a suspenseful connotation allows the reader to connect images with prior knowledge and experience.
Strong connotations force the reader to emotionally connect with the language.

18. a hint or clue about what is to happen later in a story
Foreshadowing:
a hint or clue about what is to happen later in a story

19. Foreshadowing:
The use of foreshadowing allows a reader to predict what might happen later in a story.

20. the speed at which the plot moves along; the manipulation of time
Plot Pacing
Slow Motion Plot
Rapid Motion Plot
the speed at which the plot moves along; the manipulation of time

21. Slow Motion Plot Action
purposely describing every detailed action to make the reader feel like the story is moving in slow motion

22. Slow Motion Plot Action
Suspense does not rush from event to event; rather, the author lingers over the most horrific details of each event. This allows the reader to “take in” or focus on each detail one at a time.
Lingering descriptions of detail create anticipation for what is to come next.
Authors rely less on dialogue and more on descriptions and character reflections.

23. Rapid Motion Plot Action
plunging into the plot action quickly in order to have time to build to an exciting climax

24. Rapid Motion Plot Action
The hurried pace results in readers feeling more and more on edge and frantic.
The author builds tension with the rapidly occurring events, leading right up to the final climactic moment.
Authors eliminate lengthy descriptions and use more dialogue—typically abrupt and to the point.
Authors rely on short, choppy sentence structures.

25. OMITTING INFORMATION
purposefully leaving
out information in a story

26. OMITTING INFORMATION Omitting graphic and gruesome details forces the
reader to use his/her imagination. This often results
in a scene far more horrific than an author could
have described in words.
This can also create a red herring (false
lead) in a story, thus preventing the reader
from predicting the outcome of the story’s
events and creating a surprise ending.

27. HENRY JAMES SAID ...
“The worst fears can be the products of the human mind, which can create its own reality.”

28. when the reader or audience knows something the character does not
Dramatic IRONY
when the reader or audience knows something the character does not

29. Dramatic Irony
Since the reader knows something the character doesn’t, it creates nervous anticipation in the reader.

30. the vantage point or perspective from which a story is told
POINT OF VIEW
the vantage point or perspective from which a story is told

31. Point of View
Authors manipulate point of view in various ways to create suspense.
We’ll focus on:
First Person
Third Person
Omniscient
Multiple
Viewpoints

32. First Person Point of View
telling the story from the perspective of the character experiencing the action

33. First Person Point of View
Terrible events are likely to be more vivid if
described by the person experiencing them
rather than a third-person narrator.
Suspense is created when the writer does not
let the reader know anything before the
narrator does. There is no outside
perspective.

34. THIRD PERSON OMNISCIENT POINT OF VIEW
the all-knowing point of view in which there is an outside narrator who reveals the thoughts/opinions of more than one character

35. THIRD PERSON OMNISCIENT POINT OF VIEW
This point of view allows an author to incorporate dramatic irony—creating suspense because readers are aware of information from an all-knowing perspective.
An omniscient narrator could also reveal information to readers that even the characters don’t know yet.
Ex: “If Dahlia had known what lay beyond the
door, she never would have opened it.”

36. MULTIPLE VIEWPOINTS
presenting the plot events from the perspective of various characters involved in the action (either from 1st or 3rd person point of view)

37. creates tension by allowing readers to hear the story from the vantage point of several characters, sometimes even from the villain
MULTIPLE
VIEWPOINTS

38. MULTIPLE VIEWPOINTS BEWARE: Multiple viewpoints can
create suspense, but they can rob a story of its surprises, too, because the author reveals to the reader what's coming.

39. Cliffhanger
An ending that is curiously abrupt, leaving the reader asking, “What will happen next?”

40. Cliffhanger
As a result of its sudden end, a cliffhanger ensures that readers will return to find out what happens next.

41. Red Herring a false lead
when an author diverts a reader’s attention from the truth or a meaningful item

42. Red Herring
A red herring sets up false possibilities to add more tension and conflict, thus prolonging the suspense and confusing the reader.

43. Suspense Techniques in Action

44. HomeWork:
Identify the suspense technique that most closely aligns with each image and description.
Write that suspense
technique in the space
provided.

45. IMAGE & EXAMPLE MATCH ACTIVITY
SUSPENSE TECHNIQUES
IMAGE & EXAMPLE MATCH ACTIVITY

46. ?
Ready for the answers?

47. Setting

48. Sensory Detail

49. Foreshadowing

50. Omitting Information

51. Dramatic Irony

52. Diction

53. Plot Pacing

54. Point of View

55. Cliffhanger

56. Red Herring

57. HomeWork: Neatly cut out the suspense techniques images and examples.
Glue or tape them in the
appropriate boxes on
your Suspense Techniques
Interactive Notes.