Binding Listeners to the Story

Suspense is nothing more than an open question: What is the next step? How  does the story end? It is a feeling that is directed towards the continuation of the  story. Those who only report results will not create tension.

The American author Karl Iglesias once developed the following formula:  “Character-empathy + Likelihood of threat + Uncertainty of outcome = SUSPENSE” .

knowledge, working with anticipation or curiosity and compassion. After all,  narrator, protagonist and listener do not always have to share the same level of  knowledge. 

If listener and protagonist are at the same level of knowledge (Robert McKee  classically calls this suspense), a great closeness between listener and protagonist  will develop—they will go through the story together. The conscious distribution  of knowledge is thus a central means of working with anticipation, curiosity and  compassion—and thus binding the listener to the story.

Of course, the narrator knows more than the  audience; otherwise, they couldn’t tell the story. If the narrator artificially  withholds information, the listener may feel that they are being manipulated. 

Listeners want to actively participate in the story. They want to be part  of the thinking process and develop hypotheses about why a story continues as it  does and how it ends.

Suspense Killer

Listeners want to be drawn in and at the same time get enough guidance to  understand what it is all about. A fine line. That’s why many podcast productions  work with a kind of ‘value proposition’ at the begin-ning (as a part of the opener),  along the lines of “In today’s episode you will learn how to build up suspense in  your story!” Here too, the more precise this promise is, the better (“In today’s  episode you will learn how to reel in listeners right from the start, how to bind  them to your story over a longer period and how minor revelations work!”).

In order to be able to walk this fine line  between thinking and confusion, Jad Abumrad from Radiolab recom-mends the  technique of signposting: “My own philosophy on storytelling is that people don’t  want to be told how to feel but they do want to be told what to pay attention to”

Deliver an Experience: Creating a Live-Feeling

Action drives the plot and thus the narrative forward. If nothing happens, it gets boring very quickly. Hardly anyone sticks with information passages lasting several minutes. Even short explanatory passages need a justification: They must have something to do with the story.

Intriguing Opening: Reel Listeners in

You have probably often heard the rule that the first sentence is supposed to reel  listeners into the story. But what exactly does that mean? When does a sentence  really build this degree of tension? The answer is straightforward: When the first  sentence throws up questions listeners really would like to know the answers to,

Dramaturgical Expectation Management

If you ask  yourself how something will continue, you usually end up with an assumption.  It’s like a second storyline which enfolds in the minds of listeners. It’s a matter of  building up expectations and then shattering them—or fulfilling them a little  differently from what had been expected. This technique is also called misleading.

In order to completely mislead expectations, the ‘red herring’ is often used in  fictional stories. This is an object that makes an important impression, but then  doesn’t play a role in the story, along the lines of sometimes a briefcase simply  contains files.

The goal behind all these techniques is always the same: to build up expectations and then use them to stage surprises.

The List of Revelations: Wow-Moments for Listeners

These special moments thus get a place on the list of revelations during the  research phase. And depending on the narrative sentence, i.e. the story, these  moments later become plot points, deepest crises or a climax. 

“Good  writers know that revelations are the key to plot. That’s why it’s so important that  you take some time to separate the reveals from the rest of the plot and look at  them as one unit” 

Creating Rhythm: Enjoying the Special Moment

Make  them wait! One of the most important ways of maintaining the suspense is indeed  to introduce delays or interruptions. If, in any story, someone is trying to escape  from another person and has to use a car, for example, you can assume that the  person fleeing will firstly not find the keys in the rush, then the battery of the  electronic door opener will be flat, then they will drop the keys when trying to  unlock the car door and, finally, will stall the engine before narrowly escaping  with screeching tyres—only to crash into a lorry at the next corner. So, the  getaway continues on foot… you get the idea.

Key message: There are always  obstacles along the way. Just as the crucial conversation, the confession or the  wedding proposal is about to begin, the phone rings. These are all delaying tactics  to heighten the suspense. As a rule of thumb: If nothing happens, tell it quickly  and summarise more. If something exciting happens, slow down the pace of the  story. Enjoy the moment. That’s how you give your story its own rhythm.

Emotions: Not Imitating and Pretending, but Showing and Creating

Narratives are not about the artificial or inappropriate manufacturing of  emotions (which, by the way, is not what other forms of journalism should be  about either). The danger of doing just this is related to a major misunder-standing  in journalism: In order to evoke emotions, journalists are supposed to feel and  demonstrate them, too.

One of the most important emotions, especially for the beginning of a story, is empathy.

Cliché Plus X

It is remarkable that it is  often precisely the journalists who produce such clichéd contributions that  complain about storytelling and narration—because this kind of storytelling is  supposedly far too formatted and would distort the view of reality. A fine example  of irony.

The cliché can be a starting point, but it is never sufficient for a narrative.  Those who stick with the cliché will not create depth. The good news is that no  one is just a cliché. Everyone is always more than that. Of course, you have to be  interested in this kind of differentiation.

Flashback: More Than a Leap into the Past

The big problem is that it slows the story down and doesn’t drive it forward.

The story loses pace even before it has  really started. Dramaturgically speaking, regressing the story is often useless. And  formally, it is not a flashback. It doesn’t jump back to the main narrative time  from a later point.

Key message: The flashback must serve the story and change the now. Only then can the flashback imbue story with power and help to drive it forward.

The Final Sentence: All Things Considered

Which last paragraph or sentence you chose depends on the material, tone of  the story and you. 

The Power of Audio: Embrace Intimacy

to the story, to the core of a scene  and to the innermost part of a person. 

Checklist: Suspense Techniques 

How do I create suspense? Very  simple: start out brilliantly and then slowly increase it! The various suspense 

Which questions can be anchored in listeners without providing an  immediate answer? 

Technique: Involve and engage listeners. Avoid suspense killers. 

Which strong scenes can be used in the narrative? Which scene radiates action? Is it suitable for an introduction? 

Technique: Intriguing opening. 

When did something surprise me, the author, during research? Was it a  strong surprise? Did it change my view of the story?

Techniques: List of revelations/expectation management. 

Is there a special moment? Where can I use it? How can I make it  experienceable? 

Technique: Creating rhythm. 

While working on the piece, am I touched, sad, amused or angry? Why?  Can I create these emotions in listeners? Does this serve my story? 

Technique: Creating emotions. 

How can I make characters more vivid? Do they have a special facet? 

Technique: Cliché + X. 

Does an event in the past explain the behaviour of a person now? 

Technique: Flashback.

Which scene or anecdote is pars pro toto? Is that a possible ending?  

Technique: The final sentence or paragraph.