Write one scene and find out whether you can build suspense

A character hears a sound on the other side of the front door. As the writer, you already know who’s standing there, but the reader doesn’t. That seems like enough for suspense. Often, though, it isn’t. If the sound doesn’t change anything about what the character does or expects, it’s just a sound and nothing more.

Suspense in your story doesn’t come simply from withholding information from your reader. You can drop a clue here and there and slowly raise the sense of threat that way, but if your reader doesn’t understand what’s at stake for your character, the scene won’t carry any weight. So it’s not only about what the reader doesn’t know yet, but also about what might actually happen and, above all, why that matters.

Example: You have your main character keep checking his phone. But does the reader also know what message he’s waiting for? And what it means if that message never comes? You feel that meaning automatically, because you know the backstory. The reader has to make do with the words on the page.

In the writing exercise below, you write a scene in which almost nothing happens, but in which the situation becomes less and less reassuring. First, read the assignment. Then you can have ViaScripta assess your own text against four criteria.

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Intermediate exercise: The wait that keeps getting more unsettling

Write a scene in which one character is waiting for someone who is usually on time. Within 350 words, show three concrete changes that make your character’s expectation harder and harder to hold on to. The changes don’t have to be dangerous in themselves; their meaning comes from the way they add up. Make sure the reader understands before the end why that person’s absence matters. Don’t solve the mystery, and don’t let anything spectacular happen. Don’t use the words “suspenseful,” “threatening,” “scared,” or “dangerous” to explain the effect. Start in the situation itself, without backstory.

• Length: no more than 350 words
• Time: 1 hour

Learning Objective

Practice building suspense by making clear what’s at stake for your character and by gradually increasing the uncertainty about what will happen. You do this without having the narrator of your story name the suspense.

Criteria

• Expectation: the reader understands early enough who or what is expected and why any departure from that matters.
• Measured Release: each clue reveals something new, without explaining the situation yet.
• Escalation: each new change increases the uncertainty or the possible consequences; the details don’t just pile up.
• Stands Alone: the scene can be understood without explanation from the rest of the story.

Now write a scene of your own. No more than three hundred fifty words, a character who has to wait, and an expectation that becomes less and less likely to come true as the scene goes on.

Paste your response below, and ViaScripta will show you how your scene holds up against the criteria. You don’t need an account.

Also check out the other writing exercises on ViaScripta.