How authors create suspense, drama, excitement

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How authors create suspense, drama, excitement

• FGI

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What is suspense?

• apprehension about what is going to happen
• an uncertain cognitive state "the matter
  remained in suspense for several years"
• excited anticipation of an approaching climax
  "the play kept the audience in suspense"

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Narrative suspense

• Authors create suspense by making their stories
  interesting and ENGAGING
• How do they do this? They STRUCTURE their stories
  carefully so that the reader has a sense that the
  events are going to build to an exciting climax
• In order to do this, they must have engaging
  openings, interesting complications, fascinating
  crises, emotional and dramatic climaxes,
  thought-provoking resolutions.

4
Characterisations How and why authors create
characters

• Authors attempt to create believable and
  sympathetic characters
• How do they make their characters sympathetic?
  Often they will make us feel sorry for them
• Sometimes authors deliberately make us feel
  annoyed and irritated with a character.

5
Language

• Authors aim to make their language enthralling.
  They do this by
• Writing fascinating dialogue
• Describing scenes so that they vividly live in
  our minds and imaginations
• Describing people so that we can understand them.

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Language

• Authors will use
• Concrete nouns to create a sense of place, of
  people, eg table, chair, sky
• Dynamic verbs to create a real sense of action,
  eg kick, shout
• Descriptive and emotive adjectives to create a
  sense of detail and to make feel certain things
  eg stupid, vain etc

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Imagery

• Authors will make wonderful and amazing
  comparisons (metaphors and similes) to force the
  reader to think more about an important issue, an
  important image, an important character.

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Themes

• Authors will explore themes that trouble, engage
  and interest all of us often by looking at
  opposite and connected themes together
• Love (seduction, sex,
• Hatred (violence, prejudice,
• Fate (chance, the role of God, the role of
  characters in shaping their own destinies)
• Justice