KERRY HANSEN

Program 1

​

The Tension Toolbox: Techniques Horror Writers Use to Build Suspense

Time: 45-60 minutes, including Q&A, for ages 8-13

 

Assembly Description: Our brains are hardwired for scary stories. Horror writers especially understand how to tap into this hardwiring with creative devices that build tension and put readers in the story. In this interactive presentation, students will identify tension-building techniques in not-too-scary samples of middle-grade and young-adult horror and create a Tension Toolbox full of strategies they can use to enhance their own writing, whether it’s scary or not.

​

Writing Workshop: Using the Tension Toolbox

Time: 45 minutes to two hours, for ages 8-13

 

Workshop Description: During this workshop, we’ll briefly review the Tension Toolbox using samples that aren’t from horror. Then students will pick a favorite TV show, movie, or book and list the major moments. After discussion, they’ll choose one of those moments and write or draw the scene leading up to it (the scene before the action), using one or more techniques from the Tension Toolbox. Students are also welcome to invent their own scenes and characters.

 

Option 1: After an assembly presentation, I can visit individual classrooms and give students the opportunity to use the Tension Toolbox during a writing workshop.

 

Option 2: Instead of an assembly, I can combine the assembly presentation information with a writing workshop in an individual classroom.

​

 

 

​​

​​

​

​​