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Reviews for suspense and tension. Where's the bomb under the table? What does the reader know that someone doesn't?
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Basé sur la classification professionnelle SOC
| name | hitchcock |
| description | Reviews for suspense and tension. Where's the bomb under the table? What does the reader know that someone doesn't? |
| user_invocable | true |
Find and heighten the suspense in your writing. This skill thinks like Hitchcock directed—looking for the bomb under the table, the dramatic irony, the tension that keeps readers leaning forward.
Use this when:
/hitchcock [text] — Review the provided text for suspense opportunities/hitchcock — System asks "What scene or section needs more tension?"Hitchcock's famous distinction:
Surprise: Two people are talking. A bomb explodes. The audience is shocked for 10 seconds.
Suspense: The audience sees the bomb under the table. The characters don't know. They talk about baseball for five minutes. The audience is in agony the entire time.
Suspense comes from what the reader knows that someone in the story doesn't—or from what the reader fears might happen.
| Technique | How It Works | Example |
|---|---|---|
| The Plant | Show the bomb early. Let it tick. | Mention the deadline in paragraph one. Let it loom. |
| Dramatic Irony | Reader knows something the subject doesn't. | "He thought he had it figured out. He was wrong." |
| The Ticking Clock | Add time pressure, real or implied. | "She had three days to decide." |
| The Gap | Create distance between want and have. | Show what's at stake before showing the obstacle. |
| The Delay | Slow down at the moment of highest tension. | Linger on the moment before the reveal. |
| The False Relief | Let them think it's resolved. Then don't. | "Finally, everything was in place. Then the email arrived." |
| The Zoom | Get granular when stakes are high. | Small details magnify big moments. |
## Suspense Analysis
**Current tension level:** [Low / Medium / High]
**The bomb under the table:** [What's at stake that could be made more visible?]
---
### Tension Opportunities
**1. [Location/moment in the text]**
What's there now: [Description]
The Hitchcock move: [How to build tension here]
---
**2. [Location/moment]**
[Same format]
---
### Suggested Revision
[Rewritten version with tension heightened]
---
**What changed:**
- [How tension was built]
Does this feel earned, or too manipulative?
Not every piece needs Hitchcock. Explanatory essays, tutorials, and some personal essays work better with clarity than tension. Use this skill when the piece has:
[Skill-specific lessons will be added here as they're captured]
Reads your writing through the meanest, least-charitable lens. Challenges every claim, questions every assumption, pokes holes in the logic. Use for later drafts when you want hard feedback.
Run a multi-round deliberation between reviewers. Unlike /panel (which synthesizes), /debate has reviewers respond to each other's arguments across rounds until tensions resolve or reach acknowledged stalemate.
Review a draft for big-picture issues—argument, structure, stakes, and payoff. Invoke with /dev-edit after drafting or with any draft the user provides.
Checks writing for clarity and accessibility. Flags jargon without explanation, hand-wavy process descriptions, and skipped steps. Ensures content is specific enough for experts AND clear enough for newcomers. Use when reviewing technical or process-heavy writing.
Scan any Every draft for recurring editorial-review failures: clarity and evidence gaps, argument problems, mechanics red flags, second-order AI tells, and, for Working Overtime only, column-specific voice tics and structural throat-clearing. Use when reviewing or polishing Every writing before submission. Reports findings with line-level diagnoses and suggested fixes. Pairs with ai-check and every-style.
Cuts ruthlessly. Flags every adjective, adverb, and unnecessary word. Demands you kill your darlings.