McEwan on suspense
I found an interview with the fabulous British fiction writer, Ian McEwan, in the New Yorker. He’s one of my very favourite writers, so I was excited to find the following extract on the subject – and to see that he also believes that suspense stems from withholding information, rather than giving too much.
Suspense is more than a shot ringing out at midnight
Suspense is what moves the reader forward. When we think of suspense, we tend to think of shots ringing out at midnight, or a showdown at noon.
We forget that suspense can be forged from the minute changes of attitude between two people
