Do you like the suspense while watching a horror movie or reading a scaring novel? Writers do this on purpose to the scare the reader, to make the reader’s hair on their back of their neck stand as they read people’s worst nightmares reflecting their deepest fears a reality. The main ingredient that writers’ use is suspense because it creates anxiety. This is the main goal for a author writing a horror story. A short story that illustrates suspenses to a degree is, ‘’August Heat,’’ by W.F. Harvey. So how does W.F. Harvey create suspense in, ‘’August Heat.’’ Three ways W.F. Harvey interrupts suspense into the short story, ‘’August Heat’’ is by using foreshadowing, a reversal in sudden change in character's situation, and choosing the faith characters
Don't you feel weird when you image stuff and actually see it in real life? In “ August Heat “ by W. F. Harvey the genre of suspense short story is fiction, horror, and mystery. In the beginning of the story, our main character James Clarence Whitecroft begins to draw his own image. Later through the story, he counters that it and seems awkward to him. The author of this book uses three different types of suspense to create this story. W.F. Harvey created a suspense in “ August Heat “ by use of the setting, foreshadowing, and point of view to give an attention and to find out what will happen next. This story gets really interesting when James does not expect the unexpected.
Edgar Allan Poe is an American Gothic author from the 19th century. It is well known that Edgar Allan Poe was a master of suspense. The word ‘suspense’ is defined by the Oxford Dictionary to be ‘A state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen.’ Two of Poe’s works are ‘Ligeia’ and ‘The Fall of the House Usher’. ‘Ligeia’ is the story of an unnamed narrator in love with his wife Lady Ligeia and how he copes with her death. ‘The fall of the House of Usher’ is the story of an unnamed narrator visiting his friend Roderick Usher at his house. Both of them are full of suspense and this is the main topic this essay will be focusing on. This essay will attempt to illustrate how Poe builds suspense in his short stories
W.W. Jacobs creates suspense using a mysterious monkey’s paw. Ricky Lewis Jr. attempted to create similar suspense using different techniques. As told in the story in the book,”He took the paw, and dangling it between his forefinger and thumb, suddenly threw it upon the fire. White, with a slight cry, stooped down and snatched it off. ”Better let it burn,” said the soldier solemnly. “If you don’t want it, Morris,” said the other, “give it to me.”.”I won’t said his friend doggedly.”I threw it on the fire. If you keep it, don’t blame me for what if happens. Pitch it on the fire like a sensible man.”(Jacobs,108) Therefore, W.W. Jacobs fundamentally builds suspense with the dialogue between Morris, who owned the paw initially, and Mr. White, who was interested and curious on what the paw had to offer.
In both the excerpts "Jams" and "Swimming with Nightmares" by Peter Benchley, the author creates suspense in many ways. The author utilizes descriptive words, character's choices, and dangerous situations for creating suspense.
Suspense is a detail that many horror writer use to catch the attention of many readers and keep them holding on till the end. Just as W.F. Harvey does when creating suspense in his story August Heat. Mr. Harvey used three methods to create his suspense for his story, foreshadowing, withholding information, and reversal. With these three methods he is able to make the reader feel like, “ We may even hold our breath without realizing it as we read on eagerly to find out how the story ends”(Source 1).
How do authors write stories that make you want to read on? This is called suspense. Authors use different kinds of suspense techniques to keep the reader engaged in the story. The short story, “Lather and Nothing Else,” by Hernando Tellez is about a barber who has a hard time deciding whether or not to kill Captain Torres, the rebel executioner. The barber thinks that killing the Captain will make him a murderer, but a hero at the same time. Hernando Tellez creates suspense by foreshadowing, showing the character’s thoughts, and by using descriptive words.
Malmar McKnight’s frightening story, “The Storm”, weaves a violent storm and murder together to heighten the horrific fears that engulf Janet Willsom. “The Storm” is a combination of Mother Nature, Janet’s emotions, and her heartbreaking dilemmas. The eerie mood is revealed throughout the story. Figurative language helps the reader bring the story to life in his/ her mind. The author’s use of irony is devolved through Janet’s changed perception of the storm.
In the sources the authors talk about suspense in stories they write. The suspense in the story could be how the author doesn’t give full detail or description on one or more characters. In the source “How do horror writers create suspense” by Percy D’Aco it shows that many horror stories often revolve around mayhem and the stuff in nightmares, and that great horror story often reflects a person’s biggest fear. Often authors like to keep the readers in suspense to scare them or make them want to keep reading and see how the story ends.
“For some time I sat in silence. Then a cold shudder ran down my spine.” That would be one example of how suspense is created throughout a horror story. There have been multiple authors which have made frightening stories and put a lot of work into them.Furthermore, as in the story, “August Heat” by W.F. Harvey, it is composed of suspense around the piece. A prime example would be the use of foreshadow, reversal, and being unpredictable. Therefore, combining the three makes the completion of a story with frightening scenes, along with the suspense.
“Strawberry Spring” offers the reader an opportunity to “show that we are not afraid” of facing our fears (King, “Why We Crave” 1). After all, anyone who has heard of Stephen King will automatically know that reading one of his stories may result in a thrill. For example, near the beginning of the narrator’s encounter, “a junior named John Dancey” happened upon a “dead girl lying in a shadowy corner of the Animal Sciences parking lot” (King, “Strawberry Spring” 2). Accordingly, the explicitly specific imagery used to reveal the brutality of Gale Cerman’s death is quite unsettling! Most of us spend our entire lives avoiding our “hysterical fear” of death, and allowing us to read such a description is “daring [our] nightmares” (King, “Why We Crave” 1). “Strawberry Spring” fulfills Stephen King’s claim that one reason we watch and read horror is to show “that we are not afraid” (1).
One way Stephen King increased the sense of horror and suspense in the excerpt is by adding a time limit and details. For example, when Cujo was about to jump into the open window next to Tad's seat and when Donna tried to close the window. This was an example of the time limit that I said earlier because Donna had to be fast when closing the window, if she was too slow then Cujo would've gotten into the car and they would die. This is shown in the text in paragraph 32 where it says, "...moving with such a hard muscular spasm that she cracked her fingers on the window crank. She turned it as fast as she could, panting, feeling Tad squirming beneath her." When Donna noticed Cujo moving toward Tad's window, she rushed toward the window and tried
Suspense is the deepened feeling that an audience goes through while waiting for the outcome of certain events. Suspense leaves the reader wondering what or when something is going to happen next. The authors of both “ The Scarlet Ibis” and “ The Most Dangerous Game” build suspense through a sundry of literary devices. The use of literary devices are important. Without suspense, the reader will quickly lose interest in the book and become bored.
An atmosphere of mystery and suspense, were fear is often enhanced by the unknown. The terrible, gloomy weather creates suspense and are also metaphors for sorrow and distress. Some gothic novels also contain ancient prophecies which could be obscure, profound or confusing.
Authors incorporate suspense in their story in numerous ways. The author also uses various elements of suspense. For example, in the story “The Hitchhiker,” the author includes foreshadowing, sound effects, and mood. The Lucille Fletcher includes
In recent decades, Cormac McCarthy has staked his claim as one of the all-time titans of American literature through publishing masterpieces like Blood Meridian, Suttree, and The Road. In his works his advanced level of technical mastery becomes apparent through his expertly harmonized coordination of literary elements toward certain narrative ends, such as the generation of suspense. In this light, McCarthy’s literary style is a practical one, in that he organizes literary elements in his works toward actualizing particular goals. In The Road, for instance, McCarthy directs his style throughout the text so as to maximize the feeling of suspense that readers experience throughout the book. This kind of stylistic maneuvering is expressed on pages 105-110 and pages 118-123 of the the text. But, it must be noted here that the generation of suspense in these passages does not result from similar stylistic approaches. McCarthy uses style in differently in Passage A and Passage B but ultimately toward the same end, namely generating suspense for readers of The Road. Passage A relies on dialogue to develop its suspense, whereas the style of Passage B relies on narrative action for its suspense.