Glossary: Suspense

Comes from the Latin meaning "suspend" or "let float in uncertainty, or "tension." For example, Alfred Hitchcock created Suspense not with surprise, but by making the audience aware of a threat that the character was not conscious of, or only partially so; so the audience was constantly expecting something bad to happen to the character, and this is was what drove the Suspense, i.e. kept the audience floating.