Suspense Plot Techniques
'THE DUCHESS OF MALFI . . . Sex, murder, betrayal, politics, poison, kings, damnation, and salvation -- all the things we really love! A good night out!'
-- Declan Donnellan
What you're after with a Suspense Plot is to get as much as you can with as little as possible. This thing is critical. But your energies need to be invested in the Emotional Plot.
Suspense Plots nearly always hinge on practical, physical, issues . . .
In a Screenplay, you can fill 90 minutes with one of these Suspense Plots and not need anything else. But plays are about Consequences, not the events themselves. So the Suspense Plot is kept in the background, but stretched as far as possible. Playwrights do this mostly in two ways . . .
- Dump the whole thing on the audience at the Inciting Incident.
Charles Fuller, Lanford Wilson, Wendy Wasserstein
- Only hint at it in the Inciting Incident.
Marsha Norman, Tennessee Williams
But no matter what you do, Suspense Plots tend to evolve or transform themselves as the play moves forward . . .
- Who killed the Sergeant? Becomes . . .
Can Davenport find the Sergeant's killer?
- Why does Jesse want towels and a gun? Becomes . . .
Can Mama stop Jesse from killing herself with the gun?
In more subtle approaches, there's often an initial process of . . .
And a variant for supporting your Emotional Plot, at least for a short scene or two . . .
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