Suspense

There is suspense when a character tries to get out of a burning car and all the doors are blocked.

There is suspense when a boy is afraid of bumping into his girlfriend’s father every time he goes to see her at her house, despite having been forbidden to go there.

Suspense can captivate an audience and almost always puts the hero in a situation of conflict.

Actually, from the moment a hero has an aim, the story contains suspense.

Suspense will be yet stronger if in a given situation the hero is under pressure (pressure of events or emergency due to a lack of time) and that one or several stakes depend on this situation.

Example Tristan comes running to the edge of the cliff. Iseult is clinging on to a dry branch, her feet dangling in the air. She grips at the branch desperately, feeling she will soon let go. She can’t hold on much longer. Tristan stretches out a hand to her, but she knows that if she raises one hand towards him, the other will let go of the branch.