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Essay on the suspense
Suspense in horror
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Suspense is a way to gain a reader's attention, writers use suspense different type of ways, for example they change the people's perspective on characters that were good and turn them into bad. “Writers create suspense when a character we care about is in a period or must choose between two dangerous courses of action.” Writers use this so the readers could keep on reading so they could find out what happens. Suspense have readers holding their breath or biting their nails, anxiously wanting to know what happens next. Reasons why writers use suspense in their horror stories “horror stories are designed to make our pulses race our skin tingle.” Some of the greatest horror stories like Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, …show more content…
and the stories from Edgar Allen Poe. These horror stories have many different types of suspense which makes these stories so good, these stories have made their legacy and have been made into Films. A form of suspense is foreshadowing, it gives you hints to suggest what's gonna happen next or letting you know something bad is gonna happen to the main character. Furthermore, writers keep information from the reader “ how a crime was committed or who committed it.” readers want more and more of this. There could be a character that may seem good at first, but ended up being the worst or vise versa. “Someone is enjoying a quiet evening at home when they hear a startling noise in the basement.” There are some things that make a reader want to read more. “August Heat”- by W.F.Harvey, is a great example of how suspense is used.
For example, “ I have had what I believe to be the most remarkable day in my life,...” Shows how a day can start perfect and change so quickly. James Clarence is a lonely person that likes to draw. He talks about his life and how his sister died 5 years ago. “ I am forty years old, in perfect health, never having known a day’s illness.” This indicates how he was a perfect guy. He gives us an idea of his usual routine. The story has a lot of suspense it tends to be really scary. At one point of the story there was a man that was alone on a rock facing back to the protagonist. The protagonist was afraid when the man started to stand up, he saw his face. And when he did his heart stopped, he noticed it was the guy he was painting. Which this is absurd how is it that a painting comes to life? These stories use a lot of different ways to scare the reader. Authors use suspense to get readers to read the whole book ¨Suspense is the sense of anticipation or worry that the author makes the reader feel. ... Suspense is the lack of certainty the author creates, leaving the reader to wonder what will happen. It draws the reader into the story and creates a sense of momentum to the plot¨. August Heat was a great story, it uses every single type of way to use suspense. Once I started reading it, I was hooked I couldn't stop reading. The ending of the story is the
best.
Suspense, something vital filmmakers, and authors need in their stories, but how does someone include suspense in their stories that gets the audience on the edge of their seats and begging for more? In the essay, “Let Em’ Play God” by Alfred Hitchcock, he states that letting the audience know everything while the characters don’t create suspense.
Josh Pachter’s “Invitation to a Murder” uses passage of time, inference gaps, and foreshadowing to add suspense. Dramatic irony, inference gaps and red herrings create suspense in “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl. “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle uses mystery elements of many possible suspects, accumulation of clues and hidden evidence as catalysts for suspense. All three authors cleverly created anticipation in their work with mystery elements that kept the potential to hold captive their reader’s attention until the very last
First, a key method used to create suspense is the usage of the setting. When a character is in an unwelcoming or uninviting location, uneasy or tense feelings can be formed. When there is a sense of not knowing what is around the corner or lurking in the shadows, suspense is created. Also, ominous weather, such as threatening thunderstorms, can lead the reader to anticipate an unfortunate event occurring. An example of an uncomfortable setting is the secret passageway, which is dark, dirty, and most often only occupied by a single individual. Under these conditions many people become anxious, and because of these uneasy feelings that one may encounter, when a character is subjected to these conditions, the reader may become apprehensive, which leads to the formation of suspense. When Dan Needham shuts John Wheelwright in the secret passageway while both are in a drunken stupor, a high level of suspense is created. The description of the secret passageway adds to the suspense of the scene, "The passageway was dark; yet I could discern the scurrying of spiders.
Everyone at one point has been captivated and intrigued by the plot of a movie or a book. This captivation is generated by the one tool that authors and directors love the most, suspense. Authors want their audience and readers of their writing to be enthralled by creating tension and thrill in their plot. The usage of style, characterization, point of view, and foreshadowing allows authors and directors to create suspense in their work. Suspense is a very difficult approach to master but with the correct tools it can be as simple as a walk through the park.
How W.W. Jacobs, H.G. Wells and Charles Dickens Create Suspense in their Gothic Horror Stories
Mystery is just a precursor to suspense. Suspense is used in several places throughout the story. One, when Rainsford is standing at the door seeing a giant standing there silent, this makes the reader wonder what will happen next. Two, when Zaroff is talking to Rainsford about the most dangerous game. This fools the reader and Rainsford about Zaroffs intentions towards Rainsford, and it makes the reader want to keep reading. Last, Rainsfords dilemmas keep the reader in suspense. The reader wonders how he will get himself out of his predicaments.
Suspense is the build up of anxiety or excitement in a story. It is an incredibly useful literary element. People like to read suspenseful stories, and/or watch suspenseful shows and movies because suspense gets their hearts racing. Suspense in movies and books might keep the audience intrigued and make them wonder what will happen next. People also like suspense because they might like trying to figure out what will happen on their own. This will keep the audience intrigued because they want to know how close they were to the exact answer. There are many stories that display suspense and many different authors who wrote them. One book that used suspense was Cujo, by Stephen King. Cujo was a dog that was bitten by a bat. He then turns into
An additional illustration of suspense is “Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother's face.” This piece of evidence demonstrates suspense because the story is left as a cliffhanger, the reader doesn’t know if the sniper is heartbroken, irate, or jubilant, making the reader wanting and wondering what the sniper is feeling and what he is going through. These are just a few examples of suspense the author of “The Sniper” wrote. While “The Flowers” has only one example of suspense which is when Myop finds a dead body and a noose. Then the only suspenseful part in “The Dogs Could Teach Me” is when the narrator/main character falls off the cliff. This shows that “The sniper” uses more examples to develop suspense than the other two stories. Also, “The Sniper” has demonstrated and developed suspense better than “The Flowers” and “The Dogs Could Teach Me.” An example of this is “He paused for a moment, considering whether he should risk a
In the novel ‘Frankenstein’ the creature is presented through many narrative voices, it is through Victor's narrative that we see the Creature as a 'wretch', 'daemon' and a 'fiend'. Mary Shelley chooses to present the creature as a ‘fiend’ due to circumstance beyond the creature’s control
Suspense is an anxious uncertainty and apprehension that writers use to make the reader feel scared, wary and make tension happen. It could also be to attract the reader to the story in the first place and make them read it. Suspense usually happens at a climax; the story has been building up and building up and then something happens that relieves the reader.
Suspense is a state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen. Authors like Bradbury use this to easily draw in the reader to the story, and keep the reader’s attention. elaborate Bradbury most commonly uses this in his book Fahrenheit 451. Bradbury uses suspense in almost horrific ways such as deaths, and the common overdoses that were mentioned.
Suspense is what keeps a reader going. It is a driving force that encourages the reader to continue turning the pages, and to restrain from putting the book down until the suspense is over. In the murder/mystery Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie keeps us guessing from the title to the last page. The author provides suspense from her portrayals of each character, along with misleading details that derail a reader trying to keep up, but also progressively encompass a reader. She gives initial descriptions of each person, employing stereotypes to dictate how each individual thinks and acts, and later slowly exposes each as complete opposites of their stereotypes, projecting suspicion upon each individual in the process. I Am Number
Suspense; Suspense is the intense feeling that an audience goes through while waiting for the outcome of certain events. It basically leaves the reader holding their breath and wanting more information. The amount of intensity in a suspenseful moment is why it is hard to put a book down. Without suspense, a reader would lose interest quickly in any story because there is nothing that is making the reader ask, “What’s going to happen next?” In writing, there has to be a series of events that leads to a climax that captivates the audience and makes them tense and anxious to know what is going to happen. And Suspense, is what “August heat” primarily uses to keep its story so invigorating.
Both Stoker and Shelley use setting, character and plot in their stories for the development of horror and suspense. While Stoker’s story is more physically frightening in its nature, following a terrified, ignorant protagonist on his journey through the city of the damned, Shelley’s story is equally as horrific as it traces the metamorphosis of a human being into an inhuman immortal who is caught in eternal life. Both authors use dramatic irony and an increasing threat to the protagonist to develop horror and suspense in their stories, and although the two stories use different techniques, both authors succeed in creating unfailingly gothic prose.
How does the writer create tension and suspense in The Red Room? The writer is able to create tension and suspense through various ways in the short story ‘The Red Room’. The opening sentence in the story immediately mentions the supernatural, which immediately tells us that this is a gothic story. The first sentence is dialogue, but we do not know who is speaking.