Fountain of Knowledge

Finally! Genres I know something about. Suspense is a different thing from horror. In horror, you display evil for all to see, whether it's a monster, a person, or a heinous crime. You unravel it like an onion and leave little to the imagination. In suspense, it's what you don't see that counts, but what you're afraid might happen. Tension is the key. The best example is one of Hitchcock's. Imagine two men, sitting at a table having dinner and calmly discussing the weather. Rather mundane, huh? Now, imagine that the villain has put a bomb under the table and it's ticking... Every second they talk about the weather, the readers are squirming in their seats wondering when the bomb will go off and if the two men will get up and leave in time to avoid it. That's suspense!

The key to horror is to make your character likeable and dwell on their reaction to the horrible things that happen in the plot. This is why many horror movies and books feature women -- their reactions are more emotional.
The key to suspense is to make the character likeable and put him in a precarious situation where the problems (or evildoers) are biting at his heels and it's uncertain if he'll avoid them. It's a power struggle that's shifting all the time, which is why many suspense stories feature men. The hero grapples with the problem, seems to be winning, but there are setbacks and twists. (In horror, the character almost never has the upper hand -- the bad-guy/monster always does.)


Laura



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