The Woman in White is one of the earliest English-language sensation novels. This genre, which was particularly popular in the 1860s and 1870s, is built on the combination of romance and realism by writers who place shocking subject matter in settings that are familiar to a reader. Unlike Gothic fiction, which often offered readers stories of crime and depravity in geographically and temporally distant settings, sensation novels offered readers such stories in settings that were much closer to home. Thus, the genre's characteristic page-turning stimulation to a reader's nerves hinges on setting—and on the suggestion that crime, madness, and scandal are plausible features of a contemporary Victorian middle-class household.
The priorities and techniques of the authors and publishers of sensation novels are connected to those of sensation journalism. Both forms of sensationalism developed in tandem with the 19th century's expansion of print culture. Just as the authors of sensation novels carefully employed shocking subject matter to draw readers into their stories, journalists and editors made active use of shock factor to make headlines and sell newspapers. In addition, the sensation novel is a progenitor of detective fiction, and Collins pioneered many of its conventions in The Woman in White. Structured around the testimony of a wide range of characters, the gradual collection of clues, and a nerve-wracking escalation of suspense, the novel acted as a kind of model for what detective novels would seek to do.
Collins carefully develops his concoction of sensation and suspense over the course of the novel. By way of a kind of forensic technique, he reveals evidence, clues, and secrets with a measured pace. Through this forensic technique, even minute details come to have a substantial bearing on the intensifying mystery that underlies the plot; characters and events that are seemingly unrelated all prove to be astonishingly related. At the novel's outset, Collins does not simply present the mystery and invite the reader to follow along. Instead, a substantial portion of the novel revolves much more around figuring out what the mystery entails than determining how to solve it. The First Epoch develops the existence of a mystery, the Second Epoch develops the nature of the mystery, and, finally, the Third Epoch develops the uncovering of the mystery.
The story's initial publication—serialization in a weekly periodical—also contributed to the thrill and suspense experienced by contemporary readers, as they were fed fragments of the story over many months. Collins was evidently committed to maximizing the suspense for his readers and to protecting them from spoilers. In the preface, he politely asks reviewers "whether it is possible to praise the writer, or to blame him, without opening the proceedings by telling his story at second-hand?"
