As you've learned, authors use specific techniques to keep us in suspense about what will happen next. To analyze an author's use of suspense, you'll need to look both at the structure of the story and at its key details. Ask yourself, "What parts of the story create the most narrative tension?"
Listed below are the basic elements of a story's structure. Click each element to see what specific questions to ask yourself as you analyze how an author builds suspense.
| Consider the details of the story's exposition. | What is uncertain about the main character's basic situation? What details foreshadow or hint at the difficulties or dangers to come? |
| Note how the rising action builds suspense. | What events complicate the situation and build narrative tension? How does the story's point of view limit what you know? |
| Identify the climax of the story. | What is the moment of great intensity or uncertainty? |
| Note the events and details of the falling action. | What suspense remains as the action winds down after the climax of the story? |
| Identify the story's resolution. | How is the suspense over the story's outcome resolved? |
Question
In general, how do plot complications create suspense?
They make the reader wait longer to find our how the story's problem will get solved.
