In a post on CrimeReads, Sarah Pearse offers advice on creating atmospheric suspense. “Atmosphere is a hugely important part of crafting suspense fiction, conjuring mood and emotion for a reader and contributing to the reading experience in so many ways,” she says. “The right atmosphere can fully immerse a reader in the world you’ve created, both toying with their emotions and helping them to feel exactly what your characters are experiencing.”
Setting is an important element of atmosphere. “Vivid description and leaning into the sensory detail of a location can really make a reader feel the atmosphere on a visceral level, especially if the setting or landscape you are describing is something that is innately creepy,” Pearse writes. “I like to focus on a few key elements and describe how my characters might feel about seeing them and bringing that experience alive to the reader.” Pearse prefers to visit her locales and immerse herself in them, though that isn’t practical for every writer. She also creates scrapbooks, which she describes as “an effortless way for me to refer back to important photographs and texts that have inspired my work. When I’m back at my desk, the scrapbook helps me instantly visualize the world I’m trying to conjure, a short-cut way to inhabit it almost as fully as if I were there.”
Choosing the right language is essential. “The words on the page themselves are so important in creating atmosphere and as I start to write, I think about the language in a more granular way, not only about the choice of words I use, but about varying the length of sentences and paragraphs, all of which can have a role in deciding the pace of the story and the sense of tension I’m trying to create,” Pearse says. “Simile and metaphor can also be powerful here; a way to dial up an image, help a reader make a quick association, particularly when I want to maintain pace in a scene.:
Finally, your characters’ emotional state will influence atmosphere. “Their reactions and thoughts drive all kinds of emotions within readers, taking them along every part of the protagonist’s internal journey—whether the character is experiencing joy, anger, or even sheer terror,” Pearse adds.
