Creating Tension in Scenes: the Horror Music of Fiction

Don’t enter the goddamn door! That’s where the killer is you silly, silly ridiculous fool! Everyone knows the scene in movies where the spooky music starts wailing with screechy violins or Gregorian chanting or children rhymes.

Lemonade, lemonade… around the corner… fudge is made.

That’s the scene that has viewers on the edge of their seat, yelling at the screen, losing their minds, completely invested. It’s the part that…