The thesis consists of the critical essay and the creative project. The critical essay is an investigation into the nature of narrative suspense, its operation, and the techniques by which an author can develop it. Narrative suspense requires that readers care for characters and feel uncertain about events. An author can use a number of story-telling techniques to make the most of this emotion and uncertainty. Readers may embark on a variety of activities including imagining outcomes and piecing together clues, and these too can be utilised by the author to build suspense. Following the examination of the subject, I explore the development of the drafts of Frantic with particular emphasis on how my research into suspense changed my approach to characterisation, structure, and the process of writing. The creative project is the manuscript Frantic, a crime thriller set in present-day Sydney. When Paramedic Sophie Phillips husband Chris is shot and their baby kidnapped, Detective Ella Marconi struggles to solve the case. Evidence suggests the act may be revenge by a bereaved father for Sophies failure to save a mother and her newborn, and equally that senior constable Chris may have been involved in the police corruption that increasingly appears rife. Distraught Sophie knows what she believes, and when the police fail to find her son she takes matters into her own hands.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/291199 |
| Creators | Howell, Katherine Leslie |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Detected Language | English |
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