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.?