Introduction
The Suspense and Mystery Genre is so exciting to investigate as these stories often have a massive emotional impact on their readers or audiences that they remember long after experiencing them for the first time.
Let's start with a understanding of Genre. At it's most simple, it means category, or type. We are familiar with a number of different narrative genres, and we come to expect predictable elements in them.
Romance - Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back.
Epic fantasy - Hero will start with nothing, overcome a series of obstacles, and become all powerful.
Science fiction - Asks a 'what if' question. What if computers took over the world? What if we were invaded from outer space? In the end, humans prevail and reassure us that humanity will survive.
The point to take away is that in most of the genres we are familiar with, we can predict the ending. We are familiar with the narrative pattern, and while there may be some questions along the way, we know that all will work out in the end. Our expectations of the genre will be met.
The very purpose of the mystery and suspense Genre however, is to be unpredictable and to create confusion in the reader, drawing out their feelings of unease so they have no idea how the story will end.
It takes serious talent and skill to craft a text that keeps a reader/audience on the edge of their seat and genuinely guessing as to the direction of the story and the ending so we will examine how these texts are created to better understand their purpose.
So prepare your nerves, ready your problem solving brains and enjoy every second of the Mystery/Suspense narratives we will investigate this term.
Let's start with a understanding of Genre. At it's most simple, it means category, or type. We are familiar with a number of different narrative genres, and we come to expect predictable elements in them.
Romance - Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back.
Epic fantasy - Hero will start with nothing, overcome a series of obstacles, and become all powerful.
Science fiction - Asks a 'what if' question. What if computers took over the world? What if we were invaded from outer space? In the end, humans prevail and reassure us that humanity will survive.
The point to take away is that in most of the genres we are familiar with, we can predict the ending. We are familiar with the narrative pattern, and while there may be some questions along the way, we know that all will work out in the end. Our expectations of the genre will be met.
The very purpose of the mystery and suspense Genre however, is to be unpredictable and to create confusion in the reader, drawing out their feelings of unease so they have no idea how the story will end.
It takes serious talent and skill to craft a text that keeps a reader/audience on the edge of their seat and genuinely guessing as to the direction of the story and the ending so we will examine how these texts are created to better understand their purpose.
So prepare your nerves, ready your problem solving brains and enjoy every second of the Mystery/Suspense narratives we will investigate this term.
The Mystery and Suspense genre
Suspense is the sense of anticipation or worry that the author makes the reader feel. Suspense is the lack of certainty the author creates, leaving the reader to wonder what will happen. It draws the reader into the story and creates a sense of momentum to the plot.
Some of the features of the mystery and/or suspense genre are:
Some of the features of the mystery and/or suspense genre are:
- A strong hook (introduction of the secret, a crime, problem, cover-up)
- Active reader involvement in piecing together information
- Red herrings (information that sends the reader on different pathways of thinking)
- Suspenseful dialogue (to create conflict and tension)
- Effective descriptions of mood and atmosphere at tense moments
- Structure of plot information is carefully drip-fed and sentence structure varies to increase tension
- A satisfying conclusion or reveal of the antagonist (criminal/ murder, the secret is discovered)
Revision: Narrative Elements
Genres rely on a predictable set of narrative elements. Below are the main narrative elements and they way in which they unfold to tell a story.
You can download them from the link below to refer back to during our short story/novel study
You can download them from the link below to refer back to during our short story/novel study
narrative_elements_1_.pdf |