How do you create a suspenseful mood in a short story?

Answer 1

Creating a feeling of suspense or tension is essential to keeping your readers turning those pages! Here are some tips you can use:

• Show, don't tell! The fewer blocks of description or passive writing, the better. Avoid "info dumps" where you just toss down a blob of information - that's going to bring your story to a screeching halt and make it into a textbook. Instead, give your readers information by showing the characters doing things, by including realistic dialogue, and by action scenes.
• Make your "danger" believable - you can have actual danger, such as an unexploded bomb or an impending train wreck; or you can have psychological danger such as loss of a job or spouse, or even loss of honor. The trick is to make whatever the danger is something that is important to the character - give him something that would devastate him if it occurred!
  
• Throw something out of left field - include something unexpected to make the reader want to keep going. This doesn't have to be a huge thing, just don't write the same old cliche scenes that they've seen over and over. Think "What would people normally do in this situation?" and have your character do something different. Or imagine how that situation would normally play out, and make something unusual happen instead. You know those old Cartoons where the safe falls on the character? Your readers would not expect him to step into an open manhole right before the safe lands!
• Watch your pacing. You increase tension by shortening your words and sentences. Long sentences create a more relaxed mood, while short choppy ones make the scene more suspenseful.
• Watch your pacing Part 2 - don't keep things at a fever pitch, though. Your characters and readers need some downtime after an action scene! Have the mood of your story vary from suspenseful to more relaxed in order to keep the tension higher.
• Watch your time line - scenes which take place in a short amount of time (one night, an hour) are more suspenseful than scenes which take place over several days or weeks.
• Throw in a "button" or "hook" at the end of each chapter - in order to keep your reader from closing the book and going to sleep when the chapter ends, toss in a bit of information that the characters do not know at the end of each chapter. This does not have to be a huge crisis, but it should be interesting enough to make the reader say "OK, just one more chapter," and turn the page.

Answer 2

To create a suspenseful mood in a short story, consider employing techniques such as slowly revealing information, building tension through pacing and description, utilizing cliffhangers, and incorporating unexpected plot twists. Setting a mysterious tone, developing ambiguous characters, and creating a sense of urgency can also contribute to building suspense for the reader.

Answer 3

Suspense is created by tension, so you need a lot of that. Short sentences also create tension and suspense, and make the action move faster. You might think of setting the story in a suspenseful location or having a time limit for the characters for added suspense.

Answer 4

Suspense is created when the hero (Star of the story or Leader of your story) comes up against a problem that threatens the physical or emotional state of the hero and is a problem that seems insolvable or, becomes insolvable to someone with which the hero has some strong emotion. It's not difficult to do. Think of true life experiences. We have plenty of them in our lives.

This problem presented for suspense must be believable, i.e., plausible.

Suspense always keeps readers interested. And, when characters talk in your story, always have them not agreeing to some degree. This creates suspense and interest.

I have been writing fiction for 34 years. In my view, the most important aspect to success is having a plot that is plausible. All stories have plots. If the plot is not plausible, the story falls apart.

Second, is to have believable characters. Don't write that Aunt Jennie who was just robbed said that he was really a nice sort of guy. This is way out of character.

Third, join a writer's group so you can have several people read your work and respond to it. In this way you can gauge and adjust your progress.

Fourth, Read. If you want to write romance fiction, read romance stories from others.

It's good to read anyway. Only humans can read. It is a beautiful gift that only we have.

Answer 5

A suspenseful mood in a story is created by allowing the reader to know about danger that the character either doesn't know about, or cannot do anything about. For example, you might show the reader a murderer who is hidden in the character's bedroom at night or have the character racing the clock to solve a mystery.

Answer 6

There are many ways to create a suspenseful mood. You might choose a spooky setting, for example. You might also use foreshadowing to show the readers that something scary is coming. Short, tense sentences increase the suspense as well.

Answer 7

Show the character climbing a sheer cliff with no rope

Answer 8

foreshadowing
foreshadowing