Questions tagged [suspense]
This tag should be used for questions about creating a feeling of suspense in your work, such as common techniques.
13
questions
5
votes
6answers
2k views
How to build suspense or so to establish and justify xenophobia of characters in the eyes of the reader? [closed]
I am asking this as a general thing, be it a race that is never seen but heard about (which is fairly easy,) but much more so for a race that the reader becomes well acquainted with, especially one ...
1
vote
1answer
59 views
What's a dramatic way of dressing the following scenario? [closed]
Three characters, Alan, Bob, and Charlie.
Alan and Bob are talking in depth about Charlie, Bob says something about Charlie being off-the-charts, then Charlie makes a noise from fiddling with ...
2
votes
4answers
184 views
What raises the stakes and suspicion in a plot?
I was just reading about how when a character has something they truly care about, that the stakes are raised more now that they can lose it, which leads to suspicion.
But what really drives people ...
9
votes
5answers
9k views
What is the difference between Tension, Suspense and Mystery?
Can you define the differences between Tension, Suspense and Mystery in fiction writing?
Some resources says tension is how much you care about a character but I cannot imagine how it is possible ...
6
votes
4answers
2k views
How to create suspense in a very short story?
I wrote a short story (900-1000 words) about a character presenting some election process and at the end, we learn that
The problem that I have is that the suspense in that story lasts about as long ...
11
votes
7answers
5k views
How can I keep secret a major detail known to the POV protagonist?
How do you write a story where the point-of-view character knows something, but you want to keep it a secret from the reader until later in the story? How do you effectively suppress a vital detail ...
1
vote
3answers
581 views
Present tense novel with past tense flashbacks
I'm currently writing a mystery novel in the third person present tense. I chose this to create more suspense as I like the idea that the reader is discovering things at the same time as the ...
-1
votes
3answers
1k views
Character development and suspense [closed]
How does/can proper character development add to the suspense felt in the reader?
7
votes
7answers
447 views
How to handle characters being funny in a dire situation without ruining the mood
There's one thing I always find impressive and moving when I see it in accounts of historical events or depicted well in fiction: gallows humour, when a person who is facing likely or certain death ...
0
votes
2answers
1k views
How can I create better suspense in this passage?
How can I create suspense in this writing?
The Enigmax
Stars… I look at them, dream of them… They are so close, and yet, so far… They sparkle like tiny fireflies on the dark canvas of the
...
19
votes
4answers
3k views
Should cliffhangers be used in every chapter?
This is not a great question but I use a lot of cliffhangers. And I have a habit of making cliffhangers in the end of every chapter that I write just to hook the reader. The question is, is it a good ...
1
vote
2answers
887 views
Do these starting paragraphs make you want to keep reading? [closed]
OK, first, I'm not a native. So, what you do by instinct and a bit of research, I do by extensive research, including accents and dialog style.
I’m dead.
‘But you have a chance,’ I was told, ‘...
7
votes
2answers
2k views
Has this dialogue enough suspense to engage the reader?
I still have to make some grammar and writing corrections but I would like to know if this dialogue Has this has enough suspense to engage the reader (so that he or she wants to read more)?
“Excuse ...
