The Art of the Slow Burn: Building Dread Without Cheap Tricks
A slow burn doesn’t explode. It smolders. It’s the story that starts with unease and, over hundreds of pages, transforms that unease into suffocating dread—without a single jump scare, twist, or explosion. This is the hardest narrative mode to execute. Because you’re asking readers to stay engaged while denying them the payoff of immediate action. But when done right, a slow burn is devastating. What Is a Slow Burn? A slow-burn narrative builds tension through accumulation rather than escalation. ...