Stretch out the mystery by giving your reader at least three hints “something is there” before you actually come face-to-face with the “unknown” thing. Instead, keep your reader in suspense about the monster by describing a sound you hear, a weird feeling you have, or shadow you see, etc. For instance, don’t just tell your audience that you see a monster. Refer to the “unknown” a minimum of three times before giving away what it is. A strange, uneasy feeling sent shivers down my spine, but I pushed the fearful thought out of my head as I wandered deeper into the thick trees.Ĭreate mystery by having some “unknown thing” in your story. It usually wasn’t this dark so early, but the thick clouds hid the evening moon and cast dark shadows on the gloomy forest floor. I didn’t want to go into the woods this late in the evening, but I needed to take the dangerous shortcut if I wanted to be home on time. Uneasy: afraid, apprehensive, fearful, jittery, nervous, tense, suspicious, unsettledĬreepy: eerie, disturbing, ghoulish, menacing, terrifying, ominous Scary: alarming, chilling, horrifying, spooky Have your students look up some of the following words in a thesaurus:ĭark: cloudy, gloomy, murky, shadowy, somber Use a thesaurus to write down adjectives that will continue to add uneasiness to your reader. What are some words to describe their setting? Have students spend time brainstorming their setting Use lots of descriptive language including eerie adjectives, and vivid verbs. By creating a spooky setting, the author is attempting to make the reader feel uneasy. Put the setting of the story in a dangerous place or a place that evokes the emotion of fear in most people (dark alley, haunted house, an abandoned building, or a musty cave). Here are my 3 favorite narrative writing mini-lessons that will have your students writing spooky Halloween stories that build suspense for their readers. If you really want to rekindle some writing excitement with your students, use the following three mini-lessons to teach your students to build suspense in a narrative story. Teaching students to build suspense in their narrative writing often has even the most reluctant writers coming up with spooky tales to tell. I’m not talking about just any writing, but the kind of writing that builds suspense and makes the reader WANT to read more. I actually like using this excitement over a “spooky” day to encourage my students to get excited about writing.
My students seem to be in a permanent state of sugar-high excitement during the next few weeks. The one where the kids are all excited for candy and dressing up.
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