Suspense, Surprise, And The Bomb Under The Table

One of my earliest, formative memories as a horror fan was watching Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. On the one hand, there were some awful things that went on behind the scenes, and the film is one of the more egregious offenders in the category of creating dangerously skewed images of what people with mental disorders are like (Renegade Cut has a great video about this in Maniacs and Psychos- Mental Illness in Horror Movies). On the other hand, there is no denying that Hitchcock's game is strong in Psycho, and that it really shows the audience how to crank up the tension with nothing more than chocolate syrup, good performances, and some eerie sound effects.

This also got me thinking about something Hitchcock said regarding the difference between surprise and suspense, and how you create one over the other. Since I've been writing noir mysteries following the exploits of a back alley Maine coon cat in NYC for the past two years with Marked Territory and Painted Cats respectively, I figured this was something worth thinking about and sharing.

For those who haven't heard of it, we're talking about the infamous bomb under the table example.

Oh lawd, it's coming!

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The Difference Between Surprise and Suspense is Knowledge

This classic example, as discussed by David Bordwell, started with Hitchcock in an interview. To paraphrase, he told the interviewer to imagine there was a bomb under the table they were sitting at. If it exploded with no preamble, then the audience would be surprised, surely, but to call such a scene tense (something required to be a thriller), would be inaccurate. In order to create the necessary suspense, the audience would need to know there was a bomb under the table, and to be aware that time was running out before it went off. If this were a film the audience might have seen someone plant the bomb, and set it for 1 o'clock. That way the clock on the wall in the background would be a source of tension as they watched the minute hand creep ever closer while Hitchcock and the interviewer merely talked about inane things.

Professor... what's that ticking sound?

In other words, in order for suspense to exist, the audience needs to have some idea of a deadline. A timeframe is necessary to create that sense of impending doom, and the tension that says the seconds are running out. And while they may not need to know precisely what the effect is going to be (one could just as easily have an occult ritual with an unspecified outcome that has a certain completion deadline instead of a bomb), the tension is created by the knowledge that they're rushing past the point of no return.

Additionally, while Hitchcock's example is one where the audience is in on the danger but the characters are clueless, you can have both the characters and the audience know. One might argue that loses some of the mystery, or creates a different flavor of suspense (it's different watching someone who has no idea of the danger they're in than it is watching someone who knows, and is acting in a way that fuels the desperation of a scene), but that's something that can be left up to the creator.

What I felt should be added to this is that creating suspense, and brewing tension, isn't just something you can plop down in the middle of nowhere and expect a big reaction. You can always surprise your audience; that's not hard to do. To create tension, if not outright dread, you need to lay the foundation and do the prep work. You have to explain what's at stake, make clear that there is some kind of danger, and show that time is running out in a meaningful way. You have to ratchet it up, and bring the audience along for the ride if they're going to worry about the outcome and keep turning the pages to see what happens.

So, before you get started, ask if you just want to shock your readers, or if you want them to be held in suspense. Because the latter means they have to know there's a bomb under the table, even if your cast of characters doesn't.

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That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my cat noir novel Marked Territory, its sequel Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

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