Concept

Information gap

You might say: suspense, mystery, dramatic irony

The gap between what the reader knows and what the characters know. Hitchcock: show the bomb under the table and you get suspense, not just a short surprise.

What it does

Creates the reader’s main feelings: curiosity, worry and surprise.

Ask

Who knows what, right now?

Trouble

The reader always knows exactly what the characters know.

What to look for

1. A hidden who, what or why
2. Nobody knowing until a short shock

Catalogue: Gap

• Suspense: The reader knows about the bomb; the characters do not. Hitchcock: fifteen minutes of suspense.
• Mystery: The reader knows something is hidden, but not what. Who, what or why stays unknown.
• Surprise: Nobody knows until it happens: a short shock, Hitchcock’s fifteen seconds.

Sources

1. Lee Child, Writing Popular Fiction, pp. 106–109Ask a question, and delay the answer until the very end
2. Sven Lütticken, Suspense and... Surprise, discussion quoting Truffaut, p. 73we have given them fifteen minutes of suspense

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