eKey Stage 3 – Year 8 September 2024

Name: __________________________ Unit 1, Elements of Suspense

How do Writers Create Tension and

Suspense?

1. Long sentences – writers create a list of fearful or

worrying details, which creates an overwhelming,
claustrophobic or intense feeling.
EX: He met thousands of faces--lean and hungry faces-- but
there is one face he shall never forget--a face to hunt him
day and night.

2. Short sentences- punchy dramatic or abrupt facts are

delivered in a shocking way that visually stands out. This
can be particularly shocking after a long sentence.
EX: Darkness was everywhere/ He was there.

3. Fragments- part of a sentence. Sometimes this gives the effect of

confusion, ragged thoughts. The incompleteness of the utterance or phrase can
create mystery, which increases suspense.
EX: My leg! Here, we know something's very wrong with his leg, but we
don't know what. The man in black. Darkness loomed. The fog!

4. Use questions to draw reader in.

Ex: Is this the sound of my heart pounding? Can this be true? Am I getting
delusional?

5. Create mystery by giving incomplete information

EX: Everything was still, silent. My thoughts raced madly.
Heavy breathing and stomping footsteps echoed around.
A dark silhouette appeared
The hooded figure showed at the door
I saw a hand. A bloody hand …

6. Exciting, uncommon and dynamic verbs create a sense of danger.

This may also use onomatopoeia to create a violent effect:
EX: stagger, stampede, teeter, gobble, nibble, shattering, bones-splitting,
holler, bellow, roar, catapulted, jerked, shuddered, scrutinize, glance

7. In the first person, we feel very close to the danger, as if we're

experiencing it ,too. Writers may include characters' thoughts.

8. Empty words
Ex: Something staggered into the room.
Someone was waiting for the darkness to arrive,
I had the same dream ...She was in my dream. She was drifting.
It was back.

9. Use ellipsis to show a pause in a thought or to create suspense.

Ex: I tiptoed...inside the room... I was careful not make a noise. I stood still. I
was dumbstruck...

10. Use exclamation mark for dramatic impact

EX: I felt a dread in my heart!
The monster was horrendous!

Read the following passage, then answer the questions:

The Man in Black

I woke with a start. Something had startled me from a deep

slumber. Another noise. My large room was cloaked in darkness, my
double bed an island in the hollow space. A dull light fell in a foggy
glow from the window. It must be the moon I thought and couldn’t
tell what time it was. There was a still silence inside the house and
out ,so I guessed it was the depth of the night. A scream. I looked
out the window but could only see the starless sky from my bed. I
knew I had to go over to get a closer look but was reluctant to leave
the comfort and protection of my warm duvet. I pulled back the
cover quickly and put a foot onto the cold floor. The floorboard creaked as I transferred my
weight. A few more steps and I had a full view of outside.

Our house faces a park. Bordering it is a quiet street and in between, stands a lone
streetlamp. The park itself is split by a footpath which slices diagonally from the right hand
corner of the park far beyond to the thick trees on the left of my view. It was only lit by two
lamps which were more like spotlights at this hour. I stared silently. I held my breath for
no real reason ,but something was telling me not to make a move.

Suddenly, a young girl in a red coat sprinted up the path. She kept whirling around,
fearfully glancing behind her. At the second light, she turned and stopped running. She
backed into the lamp and hugged it behind her. Her face gleamed a ghostly white and even
from a distance of about fifty metres, I could see that she was panting heavily. Hugging the
lamp tightly, she continued looking all around her as if searching for something she didn’t
really want to find.

Suddenly and without warning, she screamed a high-pitched shriek and looked in my
direction. I couldn’t understand why. She was grounded to the spot and seemed to freeze. I
stood, confused. Was she scared of me? Why? Just then I noticed a figure standing near the
lamp just across the road from my house. A tall slim figure stood deathly still just beyond
the circle of light. He was almost camouflaged, wearing black head to toe, but what really
caught my eye was his hat, a black bowler hat which hid his head and seemed to be suited
to another age. I shivered. He wasn’t facing me ,but I could tell that whatever form his face
took scared the girl who had woken me up. A long silence followed. No-one seemed to be
breathing.
After an eternity, the man quickly turned on his heals and floated swiftly in the
direction of the lane beside my house, as if not even touching the ground. It leads to the
hospital, I thought. I exhaled, mirroring the girl’s relief. I watched her curiously. She
seemed to relax. After a couple of seconds, she slowly released her grip on the light and
began to creep away from it in the direction of the trees. I hoped she lived somewhere at
the far edge of the park and worried for her safety as she disappeared beyond my sight.

I watched the corner of the park for some time. My feet were as cold as marble now and
my flimsy t-shirt had lost all heat. The room had become cold, no, not cold, but icy. Without
turning around, I felt movement in the air, a small but noticeable change n the atmosphere.
The room behind me had lost its comfort and I suddenly felt a dread in the pit of my
stomach. I didn’t want to turn around and face my bed. My skin began to form a film of
sweat and my stomach tightened. My senses peaked and I swear I could hear my heart beat
through my chest. Or was it my chest?

You’re being really silly, I told myself, nothing but nightmarish jitters. Urging myself to
grow up and get to bed, I too, turned slowly on my heels. And there, in the corner of the
room, just beyond the foggy moonlit glow, stood the man in black.

1-What is the narrative voice used here? Give evidence and explain its effect.

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2-Mention two elements of suspense used in the story explaining their effect.
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3-Find a word that has the same meaning as hesitant in the first
paragraph.
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4-How does the setting contribute to the atmosphere of the story? Give one example.
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5-The girl is in fear. Mention one phrase used by the writer to convey this feeling.
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6- How did the writer end the story? What effect does it create?
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7- See if you can spot the following techniques in the rest of the story:

Simple sentence
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Complex sentence
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Compound sentence
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Mysterious details
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Imagery (visual/auditory)
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Rhetorical questions
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