Writing Suspense

Class of 31st October 2008
Recently I conducted a class on writing suspense. We looked at various genres, summising that most suspense was familiar to us when it came to TV crime series such as Midsomer Murders, Miss Marple, CSI, Law & Order, and Murphy's Law. We considered suspense in novels, writers like Agatha Christie, E.M. Forster & Nancy Price, to name a few. It was also interesting during class to listen to a member's short story (first published in indigo #2 & on Radio National, Nov 2008). Our writer's short story was full of suspense. Only one thing was wrong, and it was really a shame, the ABC had decided to cut the best "suspense" paragraphs. Nevertheless, we enjoyed her story Crossing and soon discovered that our writer had included all of the following techniques, in building tension, increasing suspense & also revealing an "ever-increasing peril" in the crossing of her shore-to-island story.
1. The moment-by-moment technique - slipping in emotions, no matter how sublte, for a short period of time (1-2 mins) during which the tension or suspense is at a heightened level. You write every emotion, every thought, every sensation (heart stopping panic, prickling skin, sweaty hands, smells or sounds that the character could possibly hear during that time.
2. The slow-mo - slowing down time from the main character's point of view. It is a kind of slowing down the action, as if the main protagonist is moving underwater. In slow-mo you describe everything that the main character sees, hears, smells in this type of pacing. This should arise at the moment of high tension or suspense, and should be used sparingly - no more than once or twice in an entire book/ short story.
3. A third technique is a mixture of both of the above. You slow down the pace of a certain scene, by weaving in sights, sounds, smells, or recurring scary thoughts in the main character's head. A short line or two in between the scary parts draws out the tension, contrasts the creepy with the normal, giving a scene a moment of surrealism.