《How to Write Stories People Will Love》Question 79: Startling the reader
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asks: How do you write jumpscares in books? Is it possible to replicate the shock factor you get from jumpscares in movies, and put that into literature? I mean how do you write a character suddenly getting scared and not make it seem too... 'meh'? As in if someone suddenly jumped out and frightened them, how would you kind of write that?
I understand what you mean. Movies have the advantage of being visually and aurally startling, but books rely on a user's imagination. I've seen some books try to achieve this with uppercase words like CRASH! (James Patterson does this.) But in my opinion it's kind of lame, partly because the word stands out so much that I see it before I even get to that part of the page.
In my opinion, the best we can do is to lull the reader into believing things are fine, and then suddenly switch to something unexpected happening. Adding in some tension would be good too. For example, maybe the character can be deep in some troubling thoughts when suddenly something interrupts that thought in a big way. Maybe something like this:
Jane studied until she realized she was reading the same paragraph over and over. She rubbed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. It was hard to concentrate when all she could think about was that strange woman's ominous prediction. What did she mean when she said death lurked at midnight?
Jane glanced nervously at the clock. Three minutes until midnight.
The woman couldn't possibly have meant Jane's death, right? Jane got up to make sure her window was locked, then sat down again.
Two minutes left.
This was silly. No one can predict when death comes. Unless they were a murderer.
Jane's spine straightened. That old woman wasn't a murderer, was she? Jane began rerunning the entire day in her head, searching for clues to help her figure this out.
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She came up empty.
Jane glanced at the clock again. 12:03.
Huh. Must have been a crazy old lady after all.
Jane stood and reached for the light switch.
A deafening blast of sound staggered her, and she blinked against the force. What the-- Shards of glass from the exploding window sliced at her arms and face. Jane stumbled backward, bleeding arms flailing for something to hold onto.
---
The blast is unexpected, and the reader will be surprised it happened, but there's no way to actually make the reader jump because there are no tactile sensations to react to. Unless you have one heck of a popup book. XD
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An Unusual Town
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8 188Inertia
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8 91Divine Imperium - Warlord of Takamagahara
On earth, a boy named Yamato Shigeru was minding his own business, playing truant and spending time at a sports club. One day, on his way back from the club, he stops by a park before he mysteriously vanishes. Next thing he knows, he is taken to the land of the Shinto gods and requested to fight to help protect earth. With the facts presented before him, he responds to the request, becoming the commander of his own faction to fight in another, chaotic world. His motivation, to prevent earth from being dragged into this world and being made a mess of, and… leaving his grey world behind. Read though his adventures and decisions he makes in this unforgiving and unforgettable new world, where he will fight every mystery and every common logic and build a faction that trembles the earth and heaven. Witness, the rise of the DIVINE IMPERIUM and the great warlord. Notes: - Tags and warnings to be updated as the story is written. - Updates maybe irregular. - Please point out any errors in writing you may find.
8 213Dainty ❀ Larry Stylinson
Dainty; adjective; delicately small and pretty. It all starts when Louis gets sick, and whenever Louis gets sick, he gets tummy aches, and when he gets tummy aches, he gets the hiccups, and Harry thinks that the sight Louis wrapped in an over-sized sweater, hiccuping quietly with his glasses slipping down his nose as he asks him, "Where is the tummy flu sickness aisle?" is the cutest thing ever.❀ "So you're telling me that you have two aisles full of medicines but not one of them will cure my hiccups?"
8 68Dr Luthor - Supergirl AU
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