How does Susan Hill succeed in building tension and keeping the reader’s interest in the first three chapters of “The Woman in Black”

The Woman in Black is an exceptional novel of the horror genre. Naturally, this means it clearly entices the reader in a highly skilled way, which immediately means that it doesn’t rush into the action. How then, can it keep you interested long enough to get to the heart of the story, without making the story seem rushed? It has to continually build up tension, enticing the reader with promises and vague hints at the story without actually having to deliver until all the preparations have been made for the characters and plot. Notably the narrative is rather unusual, as it is the main character talking in both the first and third person, as he is remembering the events when you read about them. This puts an unusual twist on the story, meaning you are experiencing the character first hand whilst he is being commented on at the same time, something I will go into more detail about later. As well as this, Susan Hill exploits the weather, cleverly selected words and phrases, uses the narrator’s expanded knowledge, and neatly arranges it in an optimum structure.

Susan hill uses many techniques, both original and traditional to increase the tension in the first chapters. The most obvious traditional one is that she frequently refers to the weather in her story, which, like it usually does in horror stories, reflects the mood of the main character at the time. For instance, at the beginning the weather is described “We had had rain, thin, chilling rain and a mist that lay low above the house,” which implies that something should be happening soon. It doesn’t actually herald the events themselves, rather the memory of the events. Needless to say, the weather at the start of the horror story is much worse, and it begins with an exaggerated, but surprisingly effective description of a London fog. “Fog was outdoors, hanging over the river, creeping in and out of alleyways and passages, swirling thickly between the bare trees of all the parks and gardens of the city,” this goes on with more dire and evil descriptions, but basically sets the scene. It also shows, not so much the character’s mood, but how he has changed since these events occurred, and how different his personality has become. Lastly she occasionally uses the weather to build tension like above, but not because of the main events, they entice the reader, although they don’t actually lead upto anything they still keep the reader interested, for instance “the train had stopped, and the only sound to be heard was the moan of the wind” sounds like it will lead to something very sinister, whereas in actuality it turns out that the train merely has to wait for another to pass. Basically, the weather is used to set the tone of the story and to provide teasing hints which build up the tension.

Another technique used, is the author’s careful choosing of particular words and phrases, such as “I plunged out into the choking London fog.” On it’s own that doesn’t appear to be relevant, however as the narrator ‘plunges out’ it makes the move seem much more drastic and dire, sounding much more of a risk than ‘walked out.’ Another example of this is “Sounds were deadened, shapes blurred” where it makes the whole world seem vague and mysterious on it’s own, but the words are arranged so that the phrase gets the most out of the words by keeping them close together, building on the atmosphere rapidly rather than leaving the reader to get through another line or two before it gets to the next part, such as saying ‘All the sounds were deadened, and all the shapes were blurred’ which says the same thing but as it releases the information slowly, some of the impact is lost over time. The final sentence of chapter one, “When it was over, I would have work to do” is another example of how individual phrases are used. That one phrase, almost unrelated to the rest of the paragraph, creates an atmosphere that suggests, without needing any extra information, what will come next, and just how serious what comes next is, without having to spend another page building up the tension, and of course if to much time is spent on tension before anything happens, the reader begins to lose interest once again.

Another one of Susan Hill’s masterful techniques is the choosing of the narrator. Rather than taking an entirely neutral person, who exists outside of the plot, or by placing you very firmly inside the main character as a first person perspective, she chooses to make the main character the narrator, however he is looking back over his experience, so he alone knows what will happen at the end, but he also expresses the feelings of the main character perfectly, because that is who he is. For example “It would be easy to look back and believe that all that day I had had a sense of foreboding about my journey to come, that some sixth sense, some telepathic intuition that may lie dormant and submerged in most men, had stirred and become alert in me.” In this quote, the narrator is clearly looking back, and hints at events to come. However he also tells you about himself truthfully, for he admits that he had no knowledge of what was to come, but it would be easy to claim so. “I can remember the minutest detail of that day, for all that nothing untoward had yet happened, and my nerves were steady,” also shows that the narrator knows what will happen, and knows how it will affect the main character, but also on a personal level as it genuinely is his emotion that he feels. Lastly, the narrator reflects upon how he has changed and this adds another layer to the story. “Having, in my youthful and priggish way, summed up and all but dismissed him,” shows self-reflection, how he feels about his past self and more importantly, that these events will change him. So Susan Hill uses the narrator’s knowledge of what is to come and also his references to a significant change in the character, to build up the tension and keep the reader interested.

Linking rather well on from the previous paragraph, and the narrator’s knowledge of the whole story, Susan Hill frequently uses reference’s to events that are yet to happen in the story, though have already occurred for the characters. Naturally in chapters two and three, the narrator is the sole source of this, talking about what is to come for the character’s involved. “But those days in my youth, a sturdy, commonsensical fellow, and I felt no uneasiness or apprehension whatsoever.” For example, hints that something will happen simply because in the past he didn’t think it possible or that it would happen. And because the narrator talks about it in the past, you know that this will have some significance, and of course it is highly unlikely the described view turns out to be the correct one. However, Susan Hill also uses reference’s to future events in chapter one as well. However, these ones take place where the narrator lives, and are separate from the main plot. It hints at the plot with the narrator talking about memories and his past. For example, “as a result of the experiences to which I will come to relate” tells you that later on in the story something significant will happen, but that the narrator knows what it is and will tell you about it at a later point in the book. “He had always blamed himself, at least in part, for what had happened to me- it had, after all, been he who had sent me on that first journey up to Crythin Grifford,” also tells you that, later in the book, there will be a part about some obviously awful experiences occurring at those places, and that he will be sent there. However it does not tell you what happens, and as a result you want to read on and find out what does happen. Basically, Susan Hill makes reference’s to later points in the story so that the reader forms their own questions about what will happen, and wish to read on to find the answers.

One of the most important things that Susan Hill does when building up the tension, is her careful structuring or sentences, paragraphs and even pages of text. For example on a very small scale, when describing the London fog she writes “It was a yellow fog, a filthy, evil-smelling fog, a fog that choked and blinded, smeared and stained.” Now this is very clever, as she uses the word fog three times, she describes it three times in steadily longer phrases. It first describes the fog, then it adds to that description the second time, then it adds to it again a third time to create a detailed and firm description of something that would usually be rather trivial, but through careful structuring and description has become a major story element. It becomes harder to quote other examples, as many rely on long parts of text, whole pages or more on occasion. However on notable thing is the sentence structure, which varies to give as much impact as possible. She will use simple and short sentences to make a quick or simple point. She will use longer, more delicate sentences for vivid descriptions. Doing this, she can add to the tension much more fluidly, rather than simply stating how it is and why, such as using the above techniques very plainly, she moulds them into the text, which itself is flowing and subtle rather than being a certain way and getting very little feeling across. The final and probably most important aspect of structuring is that instead of using the same technique several times, it will be used once a page, or once on several pages, and in between having different techniques that are usually about as common. So instead of one technique appearing multiple times in quick succession, except in some unusual cases, the techniques will be spaced out and this way they feel fresh rather than appearing like the author is trying to force you to feel tense, it builds up naturally. So structuring is used to maximise the impact of all the techniques, and also to incorporate details alongside abrupt statements naturally and fluidly.

In conclusion, Susan Hill creates tension in multiple ways. There is no primary way, as they all work together fluidly to create the best possible outcome. If you take any individual technique away the quality is certainly reduced, but the amount of quality that is lost is more or less the same depending on the technique. However, that being said without the fluidity and technique of the structure, many of these techniques would on occasion increase the tension, but as a result of the carefully planned structure, they can increase the tension as much as possible and at the same time maintain the tension and the reader’s interest throughout. So, rather than any technique being the most important, the fragile combination of all of them is what really succeeds in building up the tension and keeping the reader interested.