This is the tension or anticipation a story builds to keep you interested and wondering what will happen next. It often involves uncertainty, danger, or mystery.

Suspense

This is the feeling or atmosphere that the story creates for the reader. It's how the story makes you feel--like excitement, fear, calm, or unease.

Mood

What is it?

How they work together

• Suspense creates a feeling of excitement or anxiety

• Mood sets the emotional backdrop that makes suspense more powerful.

• In "Click Clack the Rattlebag," the author uses dark imagery, eerie sounds, and slow reveals to build a suspenseful and unsettling mood.