How Horror Stories Create Suspense

[hook here] The horror genre has different elements that are repeated throughout all horror stories. One of the most common elements of horror is the use of suspense. According to “What is the Horror Genre?”, “…horror stories share the use of suspense as a tactic with many other kinds of literature…that suspense is intensified by our knowledge of the genre.” The advance knowledge of what is going to happen also creates suspense—authors can either confirm those expectations or surprise the reader with a different outcome. Another element associated with horror is setting. When people think of horror, they typically think of old houses, abandoned castles, damp cellars, etc. Another element of many horror stories is focusing on the conflict between

This is clear in the beginning of the book, where it says, “…I do not recall hearing any human voice in all those years—not even my own; for although I had read of speech, I had never thought to try to speak aloud. My [appearance] was a matter equally unthought of, for there were no mirrors in the castle…” This creates suspense because the narrator is in unnatural circumstances and doesn’t know what they look like. The unusual circumstances creates a feeling of eeriness and foreshadows that more supernatural events are to come. The narrator not knowing what they look like also creates suspense because it hints that the narrator might not have a normal appearance. There is more examples of the point of view adding suspense; one example is: “Scarcely had I crossed the sill when there descended upon the whole company a sudden and unheralded fear of hideous intensity, distorting every face and evoking the most horrible screams from nearly every throat…I trembled at the thought of what might be lurking near me unseen.” This builds suspense because, although the narrator might not suspect it, the narrator is the reason that the people ran out of the room; this creates more suspense by making the reader wonder what the narrator actually looks like and how that could have made the party guests flee in such