Suspense

Suspense is anxious anticipation created by uncertainty about what will happen next. It sustains attention by making an outcome feel consequential while withholding certainty.

Uncertainty: A condition in which an outcome, fact, or state is not known with confidence. Uncertainty about the next event is suspense’s defining ingredient.
Narrative: A representation of connected events arranged in time and presented through a particular perspective. Suspense is commonly shaped through the ordering and presentation of narrative events.
Suspense film: A film organized around uncertainty and anxiety about consequential future events. Film uses framing, editing, sound, and performance to sustain suspense.
Surprise: An emotional response to an event that violates expectation. Suspense anticipates a possible event; surprise responds when an unexpected event occurs.
Empathy: The capacity to understand or share another person’s feelings and perspective. Concern for threatened characters can make suspense emotionally consequential.
Dramatic irony: A narrative device in which an audience knows something important that a character does not. Suspense can arise when audiences foresee danger that characters cannot perceive.
Foreshadowing: The advance suggestion of an event that occurs later in a story. Hints about future danger can create anticipation before the event arrives.
Mystery fiction: Fiction centered on uncovering an unexplained event, often a crime. Mysteries combine suspense about danger with uncertainty about hidden causes.
Dread: A prolonged feeling of fear or apprehension about an expected threat. Dread emphasizes anticipated harm, while suspense can concern outcomes beyond threat.
Identification (psychology): A psychological process of adopting another person’s perspective, traits, or goals. Identification can align an audience’s hopes and fears with a character’s uncertain fate.

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