Dramatic+Question


 * A Dramatic Question:**

You want to capture your audience’s attention at the beginning of the piece and hold their interest throughout. Typically you want to pose the dramatic question in the opening lines and resolve it in the closing lines.

A dramatic question is posed by the narrator at the beginning of the story to create tension and draw in the audience. A dramatic question is usually not an actual question that the narrator poses; rather, it is an intriguing statement that causes the viewers to ask themselves a question. "'I was seven years old when I met my father' is an example of a dramatic question," "It hooks you in and motivates you to listen to the story until its conclusion." [| DDN]

"What price would you pay for freedom?"

Another explanation (click on previous link for full page or excerpted below) The **dramatic** **question** establishes suspense and creates a story arc. It is usually a statement at the beginning of the story – often the first sentence. This sentence creates a **question** in the mind of the people who are listening to the story. An example of a statement that generates **dramatic** **question** is the following: “When I was younger I confused friendship with popularity.”

The statement can be thought of as a hook, it draws in the listener and creates a **question** in the listener’s mind. The listener wants to know more about the situation – what does it mean that she confused friendship with popularity? What happened to clarify the difference between friendship and popularity? Does she feel like she currently has true friends?

Teachers can also use examples from the language used by the young people in their classroom to illustrate **dramatic** **question**. How do they start telling a story? Common examples include:

I couldn’t believe it when Joey told me he was moving to Oregon. I had the worst weekend... My Mom is going to kill me when I get home. She/he was so beautiful!

The **dramatic** **question** creates suspense – it grabs you and makes you want to stick around to hear the rest of the story.