Surprise and Suspense courtesy of the Master
Banes at Sept. 29, 2016, midnight
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Sorry for the lack of picture! Computer is not cooperating. I'll add one today if I can!
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You may already know of Alfred Hitchcock's take on surprise and suspense. Here it is:
“There is a distinct difference between "suspense" and "surprise," and yet many pictures continually confuse the two. I'll explain what I mean.
We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let's suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, "Boom!" There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table and the public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware the bomb is going to explode at one o'clock and there is a clock in the decor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. In these conditions, the same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is participating in the scene. The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: "You shouldn't be talking about such trivial matters. There is a bomb beneath you and it is about to explode!"
In the first case we have given the public fifteen seconds of surprise at the moment of the explosion. In the second we have provided them with fifteen minutes of suspense. The conclusion is that whenever possible the public must be informed. Except when the surprise is a twist, that is, when the unexpected ending is, in itself, the highlight of the story.”
thanks, Mr. Hitchcock! Banes here…
Twists and turns (surprises) in a story can be great fun, and important to certain stories. In a web comic where we must wait for the next page to be posted, readers have a chance to predict what's going to happen. And readers are smart; they can often figure out what's going to happen before the next page drops.
And if your writing is more clever and delivers variations of the usual, they can sometimes figure that out, too! The ones who are dedicated and have a feel for your writing are even more likely to get a handle on it.
Those are the kinds of readers we dream of having, right?
Suspense is the superior emotion. It lasts longer and will have readers waiting on pins and needles for the next page to drop - or if they're reading the existing archive, it will propel them to click through those pages much more avidly. They KNOW the explosion, or the confrontation is coming, but HOW is it going to play out?
Anticipation.
This is not to diss surprises. I read several comics on The Duck that offer unpredictable surprises all the time, and it's great fun. I would say webcomics are better at it than most media, since the stories in webcomics come from individuals. No committees.
But we oughtta incorporate suspense too!
I've rarely thought about surprise and suspense consciously while writing. How about you? Any surprises in your comic that you're proud of? Any suspense you created that worked out well?
Hope you have a fine day!
-Banes
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