Take the Mystery Out of Building Suspense in a Narrative

In teaching writing, one of our goals is to have our writers understand that their readers can be drawn into a story if the writer employs good suspense-writing techniques. In order to help my students learn how to build suspense in their writing, I like to do an exercise called good thing/bad thing. With a little practice on the good thing/bad thing technique, your young writers will be outlining suspenseful narratives by the end of class. They can also use this technique in their other writing because it is sure to dazzle their readers. 

Set the Stage for Writing a Captivating, Suspense-Filled Sequence of Events

Pull up the Common Core State Standards for 11/12 grade writing: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W11-12.3. This is a writing standard that deals with developing experiences (real or imagined) using well-chosen details and well-structured event sequences. Post the standard where your class can see it as they progress through this exercise. 

Play the following video for the class. This links you to the YouTube address, but there are other sites that have it posted in case your school does not allow the use of YouTube. This video is distributed by Canada's Heart and Stroke Foundation. The subject is not immediately obvious, it is CPR, and the video is titled "The Undeading" (directed by Vincenzo Natali.) The clip features a scared but seemingly healthy woman trying to outrun an attack of zombies during what appears to be the Apocalypse. After heroically fighting off the zombie who started the chase, she realizes she is not alone. In fact, there is a swarm of the undead zombies moving toward her from both sides of the alley. Paralyzed with fear, she collapses from cardiac arrest. At this point, we the viewers, believe the zombies are going to feast on her. But instead, one of them calls 911. Another zombie begins the compressions of CPR. The poor woman is revived, thanks to the quick actions of the zombies. However, her revival is not at all good.  In order not spoil it too much - I'll stop here, but give it a peek before sharing it with your high schoolers.

Let your class know that they are watching this video from the perspective of analyzing it with the Common Core Standard (above) in mind. Once they have viewed the clip, ask them to answer the question; Did this narrative follow all of the effective techniques discussed in the list of standards? The comparison won't be a perfect match because the standards are based on written work and your class will be discussing a video; however, you will find much common ground, and the presentation will engage even your most reluctant pupils.

Introduce the Good Thing / Bad Thing Technique for Writing Thrilling Narratives

If I am telling a story and I want to hold the audience's interest in order to get my message across, I need my audience to stay interested. So, I'm not going to keep telling them bad things over and over and over again. I will lose their attention. In order to keep my reader engaged and in suspense, I might try the good thing (Good) / bad thing (Bad) approach. Use the sequence of events from "The Undeading" to demonstrate this technique:

• Bad: The panicky woman seems to be in a post-apocalyptic city.
• Good: She's alive.
• Bad: She seems to be all alone.
• Good: She sees someone.
• Bad: It's a zombie.
• Good: She can outrun it and finds an alley to duck into.
• Bad: She trips and falls, letting the zombie catch up to her.
• Good: She finds a weapon and knocks off its zombie head.
• Bad: When she turns around, there is an alley full of zombies.
• Good: She has a heart attack, thus saving her from the horrific zombie attack.
• Bad: The zombies know CPR.
• Good: She's revived through their fast response.
• Bad: They're still zombies and now she's alive.
• Good: Hmmmmm...

This is a great way to show your writers how this type of technique strings the reader along long enough to gain their attention and hold it.

Enthralling Student-Written Suspenseful Sequences

Now your pupils must think of a problem in society that they want to either solve or bring to the attention of an audience. They must create a short narrative outline that is designed to build suspense while also delivering their message.  Here is an example:

• Good: Friends hang out at the mall and then go their separate ways; they had fun.
• Bad: On the way home, one discovers the other's new shoes in her shopping bag.
• Good: She pulls over and texts her friend.
• Bad: Her friend gets the text, but does not pull over. She reads the text and answers it while driving, agreeing to meet the next day.
• Good: The other friend, who is still pulled over, is happy that she can see her friend again tomorrow and texts back a time.
• Bad: Still driving, her friend looks down to read the text. A car is coming towards her, and she doesn't see it.
• Good: The other friend is listening to a great song on the radio while waiting to hear back from her friend (she is still pulled over).
• Bad: The car is still headed for the texting friend. The driver honks the horn because he cannot slow down fast enough to avoid a collision.
• Good: She sees the car in time and swerves back into her own lane.
• Bad: Her rapid jerk of the steering wheel flips the car.
• Good: It lands back on four tires - she's alive!
• Bad: She landed in the path of an oncoming eighteen wheeler.

Now that the idea of GT/BT has sparked your writers' imagination, each writer can think of a message to deliver, mapping out 8-10 lines of GT / BT to get the message across. Remind your authors that the object is to hold their readers in suspense.  (This exercise also lends itself to partner work.)

Try to make time for pupils to read their sequences to the class. This is the part of learning that is fun!

If you want to expand more on narrative writing, here is a wonderful resource that provides copies of scoring rubrics based on writing achievements sought for in the 11/12 grade writing Common Core Standards. 

More Ideas from Lesson Planet

Perfecting My Pal Poe's Paragraph

What high school reader doesn't like Poe?  After closely analyzing a paragraph from Poe's "Red Death" and defining the techniques he used, your class will become writers of the Macabre.  They will create their own opening paragraph to "Red Death" and after peer reviews and edits, will share with the class.

Multimedia Storytelling

Don't worry, this isn't a suspense-only writing lesson.  It wonderfully incorporates multimedia into the storytelling process and your middle and high school classes will have a strong connection to the project as it will be about their own families.  Using iMovie, Slideshow, or Picture Book (or other platforms to which you have access) your classes will recall and capture family memories while practicing their skills with setting, characters, and plot.

Finding the Right Words

A beautifully designed lesson from PBS.  Download a copy of the lesson, find all the resources on the site, and step-by-step directions on finding the best words to describe a scene for the reader.  Your class will study the techniques of war correspondents and then using what they have learned, find a scene in their own communities to capture that scene using words only.