One storytelling technique I love is when you don't see the bad
guy or monster at all, or until he very end. If done right, this can really amp
up the suspense.
I thought of this when I read Junot Diaz's short story Monstro
from the Wastelands2 anthology. The "monster" of the title is only
referred to obliquely in the story, so the tension and intrigue just keep
ratcheting up throughout the story.
In movies, one of my favorite examples of this technique is
Cloverfield. We only get brief glimpses of the creature at the end, and
thankfully the special effects are up to snuff to make the monster as
terrifying as we imagined.
In both of these examples, the focus of the story is not so much
on the monster but in the relationships of the people dealing with it. There's
probably something to that. But in both cases, the creatures definitely make
their presence felt.
Do you have any favorite examples of this technique?
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