FlashFiction.Net

On Tuesday, I talked a bit about Steve Almond’s advice to me regarding withholding information from a reader. Hitchcock had a famous description of suspense that Michael Powell summarizes at Bright Lights Film.

Alfred Hitchcock frequently described the difference between “surprise” and “suspense” in terms of a ticking bomb. If characters are sitting around a table and a bomb that neither the characters nor the viewers know about suddenly goes off, that’s surprise. If the same characters are sitting around a table and the viewer knows there’s a ticking bomb underneath them, that’s suspense—even the most banal things the characters say or do become compelling while we wait for the inevitable explosion.

So for Friday’s Flash Prompt, write that scene, two characters at a table with the readers immediately aware of the ticking bomb. Of course that bomb might be literal or metaphoric. And, if you get it right, you’ll be the bomb. Yay you!

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