Suspense

FACT: Suspense is the opposite of mystery.  Suspense means the audience knows everything, but the characters do not.  Alfred Hitchcock is the master of this.  He gave this really awesome quote once that explained suspense quite well and had to do with bombs under the table. 

In a mystery, we don't know who the killer is, however we do know that the detective will actually catch him.  In a suspenseful piece we not only know exactly who the killer is, we also know his hopes, his dreams, his shoe size, and where his mother went wrong.  We also know that the main character is about to open the shaft door where the killer is patiently waiting with a laser gun.  What we don't know is whether this killer is going to get away with his murderous intentions or if the hero happens to be wearing a disintegration proof suit.


THE CHALLENGE!: In 300 words or less write a mystery scene involving Jessica Marble, Sherlock Holmes, or the Energizer Bunny.  Then in another 300 words or less, change that scene into a suspense piece.

1 comments:

Anonymous March 18, 2011 at 12:21 PM  

Great explanation of Suspense vs Myster, I hadn't ever thought of it like that, but that's exactly what it is! Thanks a lot!

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