Writing Lessons from The Most Dangerous Game

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Although I knew I wanted to be a writer in second grade, I rarely liked what I had to read for English class. The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell was a happy exception. I’d forgotten how the good the short story was until I stumbled across it while killing time at a high school where my oldest was competing in a quiz tournament. Rereading this classic reminded me that a short story a hundred years old can teach current writers. So here are my writing lessons from The Most Dangerous Game.

How to Use Foreshadowing in a Story

The introduction packs a lot of foreshadowing in a small space. The main character Sanger Rainsford, a well-known American hunter, and his friend Whitney discuss an island that the ship they are traveling on is passing by in the Caribbean. Whitney says the sailors fear it. Mr. Connell does a wonderful job of building dread and tension about Ship-Trap Island.

“The place has a reputation–a bad one.”

“Cannibals?” suggested Rainsford.

“Hardly. Even cannibals wouldn’t live in such a God-forsaken place.”

An island too awful for cannibals? Readers have to be wondering about this island. Whitney goes on to quote how the captain fears it and then adds:

“Sometimes, I think evil is a tangible thing –with wave lengths, just as sound and light have. An evil place can, so to speak, broadcast vibrations of evil.”

Even more foreshadowing occurs after Rainsford accidentally falls from the yacht at night. He hears gun fire and swims toward the sound, finally making it to the island. Looking for the man behind the shots, Rainsford follows the shore.

“Not far from where he landed, he stopped.

Some wounded thing –by the evidence, a large animal — had thrashed about in the underbrush.”

The author is troweling on the dread through foreshadowing, so he’d better have a good pay off for readers. And does he.

Rainsford finds the owner of the island, General Zaroff, living in a palatial chateau. He learns the general is a born hunter who has hunted all over the world until he was so good, he grew bored with the sport. Until he hit on a new animal to hunt — man.

So many movies, books, and TV episodes have done a variation of this plot that it doesn’t seem fresh any more. But when the short story was first published, it must have been shocking. And the fact that so many shows have copied it since its publication proves Mr. Connell concocted a plot with universal appeal.

How to Write a Suspenseful Scene

Rainsford has no choice but to participate in the general’s mad hunt. After evading pursuit for a day, he spends a night in a tree to get some rest. But in the morning …

It was General Zaroff. He made his way along with his eyes fixed in utmost concentration on the ground before him. He paused, almost beneath the tree, dropped to his knees and studied the ground. Rainsford’s impulse was to hurl himself down like a panther, but he was the general’s hand held something metallic—a small automatic pistol.

The hunter shook his head several times, as if he were puzzled. Then he straightened up and took from his case one of his black cigarettes; its pungent incense like smoke floated up to Rainsford’s nostrils.

Rainsford held his breath. The general’s eyes had left the ground and were traveling inch by inch up the tree. Rainsford froze there, every muscle tensed for a spring. But the sharp eyes of the hunter stopped before they reach the limb where Rainsford lay; a smile spread of his brown face.

You create suspense by slowing down a scene and that’s what Mr. Connell does, giving readers more and more details to drag out whether the general has spotted Rainsford.

A Great Final Line

Besides the unique plot, another thing The Most Dangerous Game is remembered for is its great final line. It ties off the plot so appropriately. If Mr. Connell had written a novel, readers would expect more resolution. But for a short story, this final line is perfect, leaving out details to let the imagination of readers to take over.

Have you read The Most Dangerous Game? What do you think of it?

Here are more lessons on short story writing.

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