Readers caught in the grips of suspense are kept locked upon their seats permanently so they may find answers to an unyielding question hopefully on that very next page. The means to obtain such an effect is through the proper use of information in your narrative. Boiled down to its basic components, all information reverts … Continue reading Suspense in Fiction
Tag: Climax
Falling Action: Avoid the Slump
You can’t race up a hill forever, eventually you’ll run out of breath. For this reason story structure demands a dynamic switch between moments of greater emphasis known as rising action and those of lesser emphasis known as falling action. For shorter stories it’s possible to only have rising actions from the introduction to the … Continue reading Falling Action: Avoid the Slump
Freytag’s Pyramid vs Story Arcs
Choose your character! That’s part of it yes but including either of these structures into your story can be a useful tool for organizing plots. Order and familiarity help ground the audience’s expectations while giving the writer the means to subvert, confirm, or reject those expectations. You can’t pull the rug out from someone if … Continue reading Freytag’s Pyramid vs Story Arcs
Colin Klawans 