Suspense! It’s the bread and butter of every story, the reason we all enjoy to read. Edgar Allen Poe was a great storyteller because he could use suspense so well.
Using some examples from “The Tell-Tale Heart” I’ll show you some techniques he uses to create suspense. One of the first things the narrator said in that story was that he was going to kill the old man due to his “Vulture eye” This is known suspense. The reader knows it will happen, but where and how? After the narrator kills the old man, he hides the body. Police arrive at his house to investigate a scream that a neighbor heard. This creates unknown suspense. Will he be arrested and how? When the police are finished with their investigation the narrator invites them back in for
Using some examples from “The Tell-Tale Heart” I’ll show you some techniques he uses to create suspense. One of the first things the narrator said in that story was that he was going to kill the old man due to his “Vulture eye” This is known suspense. The reader knows it will happen, but where and how? After the narrator kills the old man, he hides the body. Police arrive at his house to investigate a scream that a neighbor heard. This creates unknown suspense. Will he be arrested and how? When the police are finished with their investigation the narrator invites them back in for