Bring a bestselling children’s author into your classroom and help pupils build suspense that keeps readers hooked.
In this episode of Author in Your Classroom, author Struan Murray (Orphans of the Tide) explores how writers create tension, suspense and momentum in their stories. Pupils will learn how to hook the reader with powerful questions, use cliffhangers and plot devices, and craft scenes that leave the reader desperate to read on.
This unit supports pupils in developing suspense both across a whole narrative and within individual scenes. Short extracts from the podcast are suggested throughout the sequence to illustrate key ideas and techniques. These are optional, but highly effective in showing pupils how real authors shape exciting, page-turning stories.
Resource pack contents
This free classroom pack provides everything needed for a full suspense-writing unit:
- Ready-to-use PowerPoint
- Extract from Orphans of the Tide
- Planning sheets for story questions, plot and suspense techniques
- Working wall image library for display and inspiration
- Themed writing sheets for drafting and final versions
Teaching overview
Across four sessions, pupils will:
- Start with questions: Learn how suspense begins with a question the reader wants answered. Pupils generate story-starting questions that hook the reader from the outset.
- Build suspense across the story: Explore cliffhangers and plot devices used by Struan Murray, planning a story structure that keeps tension high throughout.
- Build tension in a scene: Analyse extracts from Orphans of the Tide to identify techniques such as sentence length, sensory detail, repetition, figurative language and inner questions.
- Write the story: Apply suspense techniques in their own writing, creating stories driven by mystery, danger and unanswered questions. Pupils draft, review and improve their work, sharing effective examples with the class.
The unit also includes guidance for extending pupils’ writing, developing sequels and continuing to build suspense in future stories.
How to listen
Search for Author In Your Classroom wherever you get your podcasts. A free resources pack is available with every episode.
Subscribe to hear more brilliant children’s authors share insider tips that help pupils write with confidence, purpose and flair.
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