What teqnique can an author use to create tension and suspense in a story?

Answer 1

By telling the story backwards or by telling the story in bits and pieces to finally join all the pieces and show you a masterpiece( the whole picture). By heightening the emotions of the characters and the situations.

Answer 2

Creating a feeling of suspense or tension is essential to keeping your readers turning those pages! Here are some tips you can use:

• Show, don't tell! The fewer blocks of description or passive writing, the better. Avoid "info dumps" where you just toss down a blob of information - that's going to bring your story to a screeching halt and make it into a textbook. Instead, give your readers information by showing the characters doing things, by including realistic dialogue, and by action scenes.
• Make your "danger" believable - you can have actual danger, such as an unexploded bomb or an impending train wreck; or you can have psychological danger such as loss of a job or spouse, or even loss of honor. The trick is to make whatever the danger is something that is important to the character - give him something that would devastate him if it occurred!
• Throw something out of left field - include something unexpected to make the reader want to keep going. This doesn't have to be a huge thing, just don't write the same old cliche scenes that they've seen over and over. Think "What would people normally do in this situation?" and have your character do something different. Or imagine how that situation would normally play out, and make something unusual happen instead. You know those old Cartoons where the safe falls on the character? Your readers would not expect him to step into an open manhole right before the safe lands!
• Watch your pacing. You increase tension by shortening your words and sentences. Long sentences create a more relaxed mood, while short choppy ones make the scene more suspenseful.
• Watch your pacing Part 2 - don't keep things at a fever pitch, though. Your characters and readers need some downtime after an action scene! Have the mood of your story vary from suspenseful to more relaxed in order to keep the tension higher.
• Watch your time line - scenes which take place in a short amount of time (one night, an hour) are more suspenseful than scenes which take place over several days or weeks.
• Throw in a "button" or "hook" at the end of each chapter - in order to keep your reader from closing the book and going to sleep when the chapter ends, toss in a bit of information that the characters do not know at the end of each chapter. This does not have to be a huge crisis, but it should be interesting enough to make the reader say "OK, just one more chapter," and turn the page.

Answer 3

An author can create tension and suspense in a story by using cliffhangers at the end of chapters, gradually revealing information, and building up to a climactic moment. Additionally, incorporating unexpected plot twists and creating a sense of danger or urgency for the characters can help to heighten tension and suspense.

Answer 4

Often by placing their characters in jeopardy.

Here are some things that create suspense:

• when the reader knows something the characters don't
• when the reader doesn't know something the characters do
• when the reader knows something is going to happen, but doesn't know what it will be

Answer 5

slowly build the tension, giving it an inevitable feel.