The dramatic question centers around the protagonists’ central conflict. Here are a few examples of dramatic questions:
- Is Odysseus going to make it home from Troy?
- Will Romeo and Juliet ever be together?
- Is the old man, Santiago, ever going to catch a fish again?
- Will Michael Corleone save his family?
- Is Captain John Yossarian ever going to be able to go home from WWII?
The writer’s job is to pose the dramatic question, to make the reader want to answer “yes” to the question, and then to create suspense by posing obstacles to the question.
For example, “Is Odysseus going to make it home from Troy?”
- No, because there’s a cyclops in the way.
- Odysseus and his men escaped the cyclops but now the cannibals are after them.
- They avoided the cannibals but the Sirens are calling to them.
And so on.
Copied from https://thewritepractice.com/the-dramatic-question-and-suspense-in-fiction/ .
