The Writer's Toolkit: Suspense & Foreshadowing
The Art of Creating Atmosphere
Whakataukī | Proverb
"Tūwhitia te hopo, kia māia"
Feel the fear and be brave anyway.
Suspense in storytelling mirrors the tension in traditional Māori pūrākau (stories) where heroes face the unknown. Like our ancestors who crafted tales around fires, we learn to build anticipation, drawing readers into emotional landscapes where courage and fear dance together.
What is Suspense?
Suspense is the feeling of anticipation or anxiety that a reader feels while waiting to find out what will happen next. It's the engine of any good thriller, mystery, or adventure story. As a writer, creating suspense is about making promises to your reader—promises of conflict, danger, or a shocking revelation—and then making them wait for the payoff. It's about controlling information, giving the reader just enough to make them ask questions, but not enough to give them the answers right away.
Techniques for Building Suspense
1. Foreshadowing (Dropping Hints)
Foreshadowing is the technique of hinting at future events without giving the whole story away. It plants a seed of unease or curiosity in the reader's mind. This can be done through dialogue, symbols, or even the setting.
Example: A character in a horror story might notice that the old house they just moved into has a single, freshly boarded-up window. The author doesn't explain it, but the reader's mind starts to wonder what could be behind it.
2. Pacing (Controlling the Speed)
Pacing is the speed at which the story unfolds. To build suspense, a writer often slows the pace right down. They use short, simple sentences and focus on tiny, specific details to stretch out a moment of tension, making the reader wait for the action to happen.
Example: Instead of "He opened the door," a writer might use: "His hand trembled. The doorknob was cold. Ice-cold. He took a breath. Turned the knob. It clicked. The door creaked open."
3. A Sense of Danger
The reader needs to know that the stakes are high. By showing that the character is in real physical or emotional danger, the reader becomes invested in their survival and feels anxious about the outcome.
Example: The character isn't just exploring a cave; they are exploring a cave with a dwindling torch battery and the sound of something scraping in the darkness ahead.
Deconstruction & Application
1. Deconstruction: Read the short paragraph below. Identify one technique the author uses to create suspense and explain how it works.
The floorboard upstairs creaked. Sarah froze, her fork halfway to her mouth. It was probably just the old house settling, she told herself. But then she heard it again, this time slower, more deliberate. A soft, dragging sound, like a heavy sack being pulled across the floor. And it was moving towards the stairs.
2. Application: Rewrite the simple sentence below into a short paragraph (3-4 sentences) that is full of suspense. Use at least two of the techniques described above.
A character finds a mysterious box in their locker.