Event

Deckle Edge 17 Workshop Subtle Art of Building Suspense in all Genres

Description: This session begins with a very short story illustrating how smartly written suspense can draw readers deeply into a scene. Based on that instructive example, participants will learn how to set a suspenseful scene, how to build suspense through characterization and dialogue, how to escalate a suspenseful tone in subtle ways, and how and when to make use of the classic elements of suspense. Whats down the hallway? Whats behind the door? Whats in the box? Empowered by the lessons theyve learned, the workshop participants will then craft their ending to the story we begin at the start of the session.

About the Instructor: Craig Fariss fiction and plays have been recognized with more than thirty awards, including thirteen first place or best of issue honors. He is a five-time winner of the SC Carrie McCray Literary Award for Best Short Fiction. His debut novel The Spectrum Conspiracy won the 2016 Gold Medal for Best Suspense Novel in the Readers Favorite International Book Awards, Best Suspense Novel in the 2016 Beverly Hills International Book Awards, and Best First Novel in the Carrie McCray Literary Awards, and was a finalist for the 2014 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards and a shortlist finalist in the William Faulkner/Wisdom Pirates Alley competition in 2012 and 2010 and a semifinalist in 2011. Faris served on the board of directors of the SC Writers Workshop from 2000 to 2016 and as vice president of the southeast chapter of the Mystery Writers of America from 2000 to 2005. He is an adjunct professor of digital design in Rock Hill, SC, where he lives with his wife Deena.