Writing Stack Exchange
Writing Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [suspense]

This tag should be used for questions about creating a feeling of suspense in your work, such as common techniques.

This tag should be used for questions about creating a feeling of suspense in your work, such as common .

22 questions
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4 answers

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 idea? Won't it look monotonous after a while…
Amin Mohamed Ajani
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11
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8 answers

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 for effect later, on without adversely impacting…
Kai Maxfield
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10
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7 answers

How to create suspense when the conclusion is known?

How can there be suspense if the reader knows the conclusion from the beginning? I am writing an apocalyptic survival story, and I chose to write it in a non-linear style. So, the reader will know who survives and who dies at the start of the…
Stuck
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7 answers

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 that there is a great suspense but you don't care…
pencilCake
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8
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7 answers

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 cracks a joke. I'd like to put a little of this in…
Lostinfrance
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2 answers

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 me, have you seen a girl that looks like this…
wyc
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6
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4 answers

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 he got elected. The problem that I have is that the suspense in that story lasts about as long as you needed to hover over the…
clem steredenn
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3 answers

Is it a problem if the antagonist appears later in the novel?

Is there any problem with presenting the villain only later in the story? Or could that give the impression that he is without action? I intend to introduce him more toward the middle of the plot, since the protagonist is searching for clues to find…
stories of the world
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How to build suspense or so to establish and justify xenophobia of characters in the eyes of the reader?

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 that in general is friendly. One thing I was…
Matthew T. Scarbrough
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5 answers

How do I weave suspense from mundane scenes?

My first horror short story starts with a quite quiet scene, quickly escalating to the protagonist's little brother being brutally murdered, with the only thing separating a family conversation between her, her mother and stepfather, and her…
Gregory
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How To Make A Subtle Plot Exciting To Read + Strong

I have been trying to write a good plot that's strong for my first novel. However, I have a feeling my plot isn't strong enough. As I began writing, I figured out that a lot of things were just dragging and the pacing was unearthly slow. My plot is…
user47510
2
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4 answers

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 to do things? Is it the thought of dying when…
Aspen the Artist and Author
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Writing a particular plot in my story

In my story, a group of courageous teenagers named Maverick, Kristy, Stuart, Alice, and Gaurav find themselves engaged in an intense battle against formidable extraterrestrial foes. These teenagers are aided by their trusty AI Robots, Tom and…
permutation_matrix
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Problems about making a story suspenseful

I've been writing my first story for almost one year, and I am facing problems in working on suspense and that's why I'm slowing on it..I just present ideas, kind of explicitly and I don't know how to left the chance for the reader to think and to…
Nour Fourti
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Do these starting paragraphs make you want to keep reading?

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, ‘Then why not take a leap of fate?’ Fate? Hhh… One…
Mussri
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