See the previous post for details. Today, we'll start off with a discussion about the book and/or observations about your homework reading.
After gathering some (more) advice from King and our discussion, continue writing your story draft.
When you need a break from writing, use the time in class to begin reading your homework (see below).
Remember: To create suspense:
As writers, we want to make sure our readers ask: what's going to happen to my favorite character in this situation or what will happen because this is happening to my favorite character? Which means, that your characters need development (particularly your protagonist!) If a reader doesn't care what happens to your protagonist, your reader will not feel the mood of "suspense" when reading. If we didn't care about Harry Potter or Katniss Everdeen or Bilbo the Hobbit, we would not worry when they are put in dangerous situations. To build your character, you need characterization! See how everything just comes back again and again to the same literary terms? Get to know these literary tools!
Some ways to create suspense:
HOMEWORK: Please read the short stories "Night Shift" by Stephen King and "The Rats in the Walls" by H.P. Lovecraft. Compare the two stories. Be prepared to write about the stories next class. Keep working on your horror story draft.
After gathering some (more) advice from King and our discussion, continue writing your story draft.
When you need a break from writing, use the time in class to begin reading your homework (see below).
Remember: To create suspense:
Suspense: delaying the reader's gratification. The intense feeling (often of anxiety) a reader feels when characters in stories/films, etc. are either in danger, threatened or the outcome of the story is in question. This uncertainty creates a feeling of suspense. The feeling a reader gets is called MOOD. The way the writer uses words (diction) to create that mood is called TONE. Tone is your job as a writer. With the proper tone (say a suspenseful tone) your mysteries, horror, and suspense stories will be more effective.
As writers, we want to make sure our readers ask: what's going to happen to my favorite character in this situation or what will happen because this is happening to my favorite character? Which means, that your characters need development (particularly your protagonist!) If a reader doesn't care what happens to your protagonist, your reader will not feel the mood of "suspense" when reading. If we didn't care about Harry Potter or Katniss Everdeen or Bilbo the Hobbit, we would not worry when they are put in dangerous situations. To build your character, you need characterization! See how everything just comes back again and again to the same literary terms? Get to know these literary tools!
Some ways to create suspense:
- Show (describe) the danger or threat; avoid revealing "the monster" completely in a horror story until the end of your story. Hint before you show.
- Hint at possibilities through your diction (careful word choice) and imagery
- Delay gratification by keeping your reader guessing as to what will happen next
- Use description as a way to break up or slow down the resolution of events
- Use dialogue as a way to break up or distract characters from the resolution of events
- Cut to a different scene--use white space to transition from one scene to another
- Cut to the POV of a different character--this is called parallel action
- Stop the scene before you resolve it--this is often called a cliffhanger
HOMEWORK: Please read the short stories "Night Shift" by Stephen King and "The Rats in the Walls" by H.P. Lovecraft. Compare the two stories. Be prepared to write about the stories next class. Keep working on your horror story draft.
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