In this essay, I will be comparing the way in which the authors of `The Red Room' and `The Monkey's Paw' create and build tension and atmosphere. There are two ways, or techniques, in which the building of tension can be used to the author's advantage: they both involve purposefully creating expectations, yet are both quite different.

The first way can only be successful if the author uses it very cleverly, otherwise the story could just end up being labelled as "predictable." The author simply builds expectations, so the audience would be able to guess what was going to happen next. The question changes from "what will happen"" to "when" and "how will it happen"" - It is no longer a question of what, but a question of when. The reader will wait anxiously on the edge of their seat, knowing that something has to happen soon, but...