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How Is Suspense, and How Do You Create It? Blog

Mar 30, 2022

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One of the most effective ways to comprehend suspense is to observe it at work.

It's raining outside. Power is out. Vehicles aren't functioning. You're surrounded by dinosaurs, but you can't see the creatures. You suddenly can hear an eerie boom, perhaps thunder. Maybe the power is seeking to return. A second boom. The ground shakes, and the windows rattle. Then, you glance at the cup of water that is on the dashboard. The water ripples.

Now, you know for a fact something is coming.

You're in one the most thrilling scenes of movie history: the T-Rex movie scene from Jurassic Park. What makes it so memorable? It's not the T-Rex. Other scenes have featured dinosaurs but haven't made the hair stand on the back of our necks quite like this. What's the secret formula that draws audiences close to their seats?

All it boils down to one word: suspense.

Is Suspense a Fictional Character? Is Suspense?

Let's begin with a simple suspense definition. Suspense is the feeling of anxiousness when you're uncertain about what's going to happen. If you're looking to build suspense, sure, you need danger, but what other factors should you consider?

  • High stakesIf it doesn't go the right way, are there going to result in a disaster? As legendary literary agent Donald Maass put it, "if you can't answer the question "what do you think do you think?', then perhaps the stakes in your story aren't high enough."
  • CharactersDo you care for the character, one either way or another? If the protagonist is a hero, do we like them enough to want them to get away? If it's the villain, would we prefer the other? In the absence of emotional involvement in who the suspense is happening to, we'll not be able to connect with the emotion.
  • TensionHas the author of the tale established the danger that is imminent? Does the danger seem plausible and real, or at least plausible in its own universe? There might not be dinosaurs around anymore, but once Jurassic Park spends over half an hour building a somewhat-credible scenario in which dinosaurs can exist and exist, it makes the T-Rex appear real.

Examples of Suspense

Jurassic Park

Let's break down why the first T-Rex scene from Jurassic Park works so well.

  1. Stakes: If a T-Rex shows up, there's going to be terrible effects for our characters.
  2. characters: Not only are two kids present as well, but also Drs. Alan Grant and Ian Malcolm are two fleshed-out, distinct humans with distinct characters and oddities.
  3. Tension: By showing the water vibrate just from the single footstep from a raging T-Rex It's clear the monster is that impressive that it's hard to resist to feel a sense of suspense.

Psycho

 In a mystery, the audience is not as knowledgeable as those in the film. Suspense is when the spectator knows more than the actors in the movie.

If the viewer is aware of danger, and the character does not immediately feel it, the suspense is automatic. Consider the famous shower scene in The Psycho. The viewers watch when the killer appears and Marion Crane is washing up in the bathroom and is unaware of the outcome. The small snatched moment of terror that creates edge-of-your-seat suspense.

The Silence Of the Lambs

Let's turn to the novel by Thomas Harris--particularly, one aspect of its psychopathic villain, the serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lecter. In the first place it's not a character you can sympathize with. He is a murderer straight and straightforward.

But Harris does not play out the first meeting Lecter so conventionally. Lecter is surprisingly gentle, even polite. If FBI agent Clarice Starling enlists his help to catch Buffalo Bill, Lecter agrees--in exchange for a small request. He just wants a window with a view.

It's not exactly an uplifting. However, by giving us a glimpse of Lecter's character, Harris sets up the biggest terror. When Lecter later escapes, all of Harris's character-building work of establishing Lecter as charming, intelligent, even strangely human--only creates a more terrifying. At the conclusion of the book, you'll never know which actions he'll take next.

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What is the best way to Create Suspense

What does Jurassic Park, Psycho as well as the Silence of the Lambs Have in the way of

Establish a Credible Threat

Each work required time to establish the credibility of its main threat. Jurassic Park employs an exposition of how modern-day dinosaurs began to be feasible. Psycho leads us down an unintentional path, focusing on Marion's journey with an envelope of cash, before introducing us to the mysterious and alone Norman Bates. Silence of the Lambs Silence of the Lambs establishes Buffalo Bill as its chief antagonist, then unleashes Hannibal Lecter as a villain much more shrewd and dangerous.

It doesn't require a plausiblethreat for suspense to be created, also. If your audience is convinced that they are the protagonists who fear the danger, then that's sufficient. Think about Sauron as the antagonist from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Sauron isn't real. However, if we follow the narrative's inner logic it becomes clear that there is only one way to defeat Sauron and that's why suspense linger over the entire world.

Place Something "On the Line"

If your audience is invested in the characters you portray, any threat to their safety will suffice to generate suspense. Let's go back to Donald Maass' famous question What's the answer?

If the main character doesn't achieve their goals Why is it?

You can remove a character's choice to reverse

For instance, in To Kill a Mockingbird We have the tale of an individual criminal trial. It happens all the time. However, the the author Harper Lee attaches significant cultural as well as emotional importance to this trial.

Lawyer Atticus Finch isn't fighting a T-Rex, but to Kill a Mockingbird is still a master lesson in how to build suspense. There are emotional stakes in each scene since readers know what's in the balance and not just the life of a man at stake and he's in danger, but Finch has to be a risk to his own reputation as well as his health by putting together an argument in court.

Create the Possibility Your Main Character could lose

in Psycho, the woman we thought was the main character--Marion Crane--is murdered halfway through the movie. When Marion's sister arrives at the Bates Motel to investigate, the film has established Norman Bates as a very real and credible threat. There's suspense around every corner because we know that Norman Bates remains at the helm.

In a thriller about spies "the world hangs in the of the balance" can lose its suspense if the audience never believes that the author would allow the worst to happen. George R.R. Martin of The Chronicles of Narnia: A Song of Ice and Fire is known for his murder of the lead character of his time. A prominent character dies in the book's first chapter as well, and through the remainder of the series viewers are required to wonder if their future-favorite persona is going to die whenever they're in a difficult scenario.

(Note that you may create suspense when your story ends just when your character is set to die or be rescued by a rescuer, thereby creating a cliffhanger in the following chapter).

The difference between Suspense and Foreshadowing

Suspense refers to the tension that is the center of the story. When a situation is suspenseful, the events can turn out very poorly or very smoothly for our protagonists. It is common to imagine suspense as the anticipation of imminent danger. But that's not always the reality.

If you're interested in merging the two, consider adding an "Chekhov's Gun" to the plot. Chekhov's Gun is frequently used in theater. If the setting of the play features a prominent display of a shotgun on the wall, the gun had better become an important aspect of the plot in the near future. The gun's presence not only creates credibility for the threat, but also adds to the air of suspense. When will the gun be used?

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