Writing Exercise: Building Suspense
Just like that the tightrope walker’s confidence seemed to break, the sudden gust of wind had come at what appeared to be a terrible juncture, and his body listed, ever so slightly, a chain reaction that ran through him and left him hovering over the precipice of disaster. As they waited to see what would happen, the entire news studio room was doing the unthinkable- watching their own show. The two anchors sat silent in their split screen, eyes wide. Even Dan’s voice, narrating live, abruptly failed.
In the control room, Caitlin, the producer, managed to pull her gaze away from the wall of screens to look over at the director, who, of a similar mind, made eye contact with her, then pointedly looked down at his hand, hovering over the advance key. She nodded her understanding- they were on a delay, and they could cut away the second the dancer began to fall. They’d need a new graphics package, immediately, either way. “Tragedy Strikes in Bid for Immortality?” Oh god that was terrible. Fuck no. “Tightrope Walk Ends in Tragic Fall.” Basic, but better. Graphics could tweak it. Plan A was “Tightrope Drama Ends in Triumph!” of course. Either way it would be a scramble for the evening show.
What else? She would need to reassign the story this guy died. Dan was great with the light stuff but no one wanted the entertainment reporter talking to devastated family members, not him, not them, and certainly not Caitlin. Traffic. Traffic was being redirected for the stunt but if it turned into an accident investigation it would snarl the area for hours. Totally fuck up the commute. Tell Tim to plan some alternative route maps. She watched the tiny figure on the screen frantically try to get his balance and remembers that they’ve been teasing the shit out of this. They had an interview planned with this guy in the 5oClock. The teases will have to change, and obviously they might need a replacement guest. She winced at the cold-blooded thought, but that was five minutes of air time she needed to fill, maybe. Obviously, this will be the lead- what was the lead now- school mold investigation- definitely have to push that down to B block, after this, and traffic. Nothing was more important than traffic. In her peripheral vision she saw the News Director off to the side, observing her, and gave a jerk of her chin in acknowledgement.
The long pole held by the funambulist seems to wobble dramatically and she violently wonders why this idiot isn’t wearing a safely line. It would make things so much less stressful. There’s been too much dead air- no, she realizes, checking the clock, it’s only been a few seconds. The viewers are probably way to involved to realize there’s no actual reporting happening right now. Then, like a miracle, the acrobats body steadies. He settles more deeply onto the rope and flashes a huge grin. The control room seems to breath as one, and Dan’s voice breaks the silence. “What a moment that was. I don’t know if our viewers realize how close a call that was but…” Caitlin put his voice on the back burner, and a low hum of noise restarted in the control room as the team kicked back into action.
Ten minutes later, it had been a clean show, and she smiled triumphantly as the anchors read the final items on the teleprompter “Thank you for watching this special live coverage. Join KPNC at five for our continuing coverage, and until then, have a fantastic Wednesday!” The closing music underscored Caitlin’s loud groan. She’s forgotten to update the script to Thursday.