Writing Lessons on BART
Today I learnt...
Suspense: Is a diversion of a dramatic sequence of events. A dramatic event is split up. In The English Patient, the sapper is defusing a bomb, then the camera switches to a different scene: Hana brings a mirror to her patient. This is something that movies have already learnt. There is always a missing segment. It heightens the suspense, because readers do not know what happens, although they anticipate that something would happen. So a good writer makes a reader wait, distract them with a trick, then bringing their attention back to the drama, the stakes already raised. So they do not see the drama unfold, but rather is thrown right into it. So then, the art of suspense is to divert, and return in the moment right before the hieght of drama.
Technique: The long sentence, linked by commas, pushes the sentence along, heightening suspense,pulsing with one's quickening hearbeat, leaving a feeling of breathless excitement, a feeling of catching up to a run away action. A short setence creates emphasis. If used in conjuction, it can heighten suspense on a sentence level, making your readers' eyes do catch up in a long sentence, followed by a sudden break, like an exclamation point, or a crash upon a rock by the waves.
Labels: Writing Lessons on BART
There