How to make your writing suspenseful- Victoria Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjKruwAfZWk
1. The oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. (Leave the audience in a state of suspense. Do
not reveal horror just anticipate it.)
2. Set up a question or several that the audience hopes to get an answer to, and delays that answer by
maintaining their interest and keeping them guessing.
How?
a. Limit the point of view. (Tell the story from the perspective of the characters, who relate what they’ve
experience and fears what’s to come)
 Make your character trust an untrustworthy person.
 Give the character a guilty conscious about something. Ask each character: What are you guilty about?
b. Choose the right setting and imagery.
3. Play with style and form. (Not just what happened but how it’s conveyed and paced.)
4. Use dramatic irony. (Reveal key parts of the big secret to the audience, but not to the characters.)
5. The cliffhanger. (This is a climax of tension. It is an effective way to end a scene or a chapter. It can be an
answer to a question, a new question, a twist, or a revelation of a character.)

How to make your writing suspenseful- Victoria Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjKruwAfZWk
1. The oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. (Leave the audience in a state of suspense. Do
not reveal horror just anticipate it.)
2. Set up a question or several that the audience hopes to get an answer to, and delays that answer by
maintaining their interest and keeping them guessing.
How?
b. Limit the point of view. (Tell the story from the perspective of the characters, who relate what they’ve
experience and fears what’s to come)
 Make your character trust an untrustworthy person.
 Give the character a guilty conscious about something. Ask each character: What are you guilty about?
b. Choose the right setting and imagery.
3. Play with style and form. (Not just what happened but how it’s conveyed and paced.)
4. Use dramatic irony. (Reveal key parts of the big secret to the audience, but not to the characters.)
5. The cliffhanger. (This is a climax of tension. It is an effective way to end a scene or a chapter. It can be an
answer to a question, a new question, a twist, or a revelation of a character.)

How to make your writing suspenseful- Victoria Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjKruwAfZWk
1. The oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. (Leave the audience in a state of suspense. Do
not reveal horror just anticipate it.)
2. Set up a question or several that the audience hopes to get an answer to, and delays that answer by
maintaining their interest and keeping them guessing.
How?
c. Limit the point of view. (Tell the story from the perspective of the characters, who relate what they’ve
experience and fears what’s to come)
 Make your character trust an untrustworthy person.
 Give the character a guilty conscious about something. Ask each character: What are you guilty about?
b. Choose the right setting and imagery.
3. Play with style and form. (Not just what happened but how it’s conveyed and paced.)
4. Use dramatic irony. (Reveal key parts of the big secret to the audience, but not to the characters.)
5. The cliffhanger. (This is a climax of tension. It is an effective way to end a scene or a chapter. It can be an
answer to a question, a new question, a twist, or a revelation of a character.)