Early Thriller Writing

If we’re looking for examples of early thriller writing, we should peruse the Bible.

There is the story of Cain and Abel, where one brother is murdered and the other exiled, forever marked by God as the sacred son of Adam and Eve.   

There’s the tale of David and Goliath, in which a shepherd boy brings down a giant to become a king.

There’s Jonah and the Whale, a story about a man eaten by a fish, only to escape after three days.

If you want drama, there’s the epic story of Moses and the alleged flight of the Jews from Egypt.

All of these stories contain elements that wouldn’t be out of place in the finest of thrillers.

Heroes seeking justice, underdogs defeating bullies, bands of lost seekers escaping persecution to inherit a new life.

The modern thriller, even now, thousands of years after the bible was written, still places protagonists in positions of adversity, gives them seemingly insurmountable odds to overcome - until they finally win out against some dastardly foe.

In terms of thrilling material, the story of Jesus Christ has much going for it.

A miraculous birth under the threat of assassination, a life full of seemingly miraculous wonders, times of despair, temptation, darkness, healing and enlightenment.

There’s intrigue, deception, betrayal, persecution and finally an horrific death followed by a resurrection; all the more remarkable for being a story apparently based on fact!

Modern thrillers too deal with these same issues: international intrigue, the pursuit of meaning, violence and its aftermath, and the need to outwit lethal adversaries.

In ancient Greece, the poet Homer wrote The Iliad and The Odyssey - primarily as historical action stories, but they are no less thrilling.

The books tell us of the fall of Troy and the exploits of Odysseus on his way home from the Trojan war.

They’re full of drama, passion and big issues like heroism, rage, revenge, justice, and include journeys into heaven and hell, meetings with ghosts and ogres, giants and gods - all classic life and death stuff.

Beowulf is said to have been written around 770AD. It’s another epic tale, about a man defeating a dragon to save his people.

It’s a story about dedication and purpose, courage and sacrifice and fighting for what you believe in, another common thread in the thriller tradition.

The Grail stories that began to circulate Europe at the end of the first millennium were thrillers - of a sort.

They were inspiring tales of brave and chivalrous knights seeking the blood of Christ (or some other symbolic life enhancing experience) and through it, enlightenment and prosperity for their land and their king.

The above stories are different from modern thrillers in only one serious regard.

Essentially these stories are told in a linear manner and their resolutions are largely inevitable, even predictable.

Events unfold one after the other in a logical format where the hero is introduced, his problem identified, followed by the quest to undo the wrong in whatever way seems appropriate.

There is never any question that the hero is capable of overcoming his problems because the stories are told with some degree of hindsight.

The immediacy comes from the telling, rather than from the plot.

This particular narrative technique was in use right up until the end of the 19th Century.

Even Shakespeare – who no doubt studied classical Greek and Roman storytelling - fell victim to the tactic of presenting fatally two dimensional characters who performed their heroic duties with deterministic certainty.

Characters like Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Richard the Third, and Macbeth have clearly defined personality traits and, although they certainly interact with those around them, and live out their fatalistic destinies, they rarely actually change.

It’s important to understand that the notion of personal growth and the ability to learn from experience are - by and large - 20th century concepts that dramatically impact the way we construct modern thrillers today.

In the mid 1800s, the rise of mass literacy created by the Industrial Revolution meant that the demand for fiction rose dramatically, particularly in the high adventure genre.

Writers like Sir Walter Scott (Ivanhoe), Alexandre Dumas (The Count of Monte Christo, The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask), Charles Dickens (Bleak House, David Copperfield, Great Expectations etc.,) even Victor Hugo (Hunchback of Notre Dame, Les Miserables) were among the first novelists able to make a comfortable living from writing fiction.

Even so, the genre we know now as “the thriller” was still a century or so away.

The Beginning of the Modern Thriller

The book most often credited as the first detective story is The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins.

First published in 1868, it’s a truly great story, brilliantly written and plotted and a book, if you intend to write thrillers, you should consider required reading!

(It’s actually free online in lots of places these days.

Just type The Moonstone Free PDF into Google and one should come up.)

The novel starts with a theft of a diamond.

A certain Sergeant Cuff is charged with an investigation to find the thief.

The story that follows purports to be a file of case notes – albeit a very wordy one in which all of the characters seem to have no trouble writing their own statements for the police!

Notwithstanding a few logic flaws, the story is skillfully told from multiple points of view, and becomes the first gradually unfolding whodunit with clues, false leads, red herrings and a brilliant surprise ending (which many critics to this day say they don’t like!)

The real strength of the story is the way it ‘broke the rules’ of the time in some very distinct ways.

First, it introduced the concept of the ‘unreliable witness’ into fictional stories.

Much of the story is told from the point of view of characters who don’t know all the facts (even though we assume the author does.)

This means that you’re not always sure whether what you’re being told is accurate, honest, or even relevant.

This was a huge leap forward for fiction at the time.

As Wilkie Collins himself said: ‘In some of my former novels, the object proposed has been to trace the influence of circumstances on character.

In the present story, I have reversed the process.

The attempt made here is to trace the influence of character on circumstances.’

Here were the first inklings of a 20th century perspective.

Collins posed another important question by writing the novel in the way that he did.

Is it possible to withhold crucial information from the story without losing the trust of the reader?

Clearly, the identity of the thief was known to the author before he started writing but, Collins must have asked himself, would the reader feel cheated having to wait until the end of the story to find out who it was - or could it act as the ultimate hook, to keep the reader reading?

At the time, it was a gamble.

Authors were supposed to play fair, revealing as much as they were able, as though relating the story to you in person. Surely only a scoundrel would deliberately withhold crucial information, to actually mislead the reader.

Well, it may have been a gamble but it paid off – handsomely.

When The Moonstone was first serialized, hundreds of Londoners queued in the street outside newspaper offices to buy the next installment.

It’s said that politicians and dignitaries canceled appointments just to read the ongoing story.

Little could Collins have guessed that this one literary trick - basically withholding the identity of the villain until the very end - would spawn an industry!

In his Sherlock Holmes stories, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle further explored the idea of allowing the reader to join in the investigation.

Doyle presented clues, but not to entertain his readers so much as a way to fool the reader, thereby making his hero seem all the more remarkable.

This process of deliberately making the hero smart, resourceful but essentially larger than life can still be seen in use today - from a myriad of modern detective stories to thriller protagonists like Jack Reacher (from Lee Child), Dirk Pitt (from Clive Cussler) and Alex Cross (from James Patterson).

The only problem with many of Sherlock Holmes’ stories is that the reader is sometimes presented with solutions they could never have guessed.

These days that’s seen as not playing entirely fair.

While it’s still okay to withhold some information from the reader - it’s not okay to abuse the ‘trust’ a reader has for the author.

In modern mysteries, basically because of Agatha Christie, a reader should be able to go back and find all the clues to the identity of the killer somewhere in the book.

Coming up with a solution nobody could have guessed is seen as cheating.

Back at the turn of the last century, action and adventure stories were also being written by authors like Jules Verne, H G Wells, Rider Haggard and Edgar Rice Burroughs.

At the time there was a much more definite line drawn between adventure and mystery.

Even Conan Doyle would write in both genres but would rarely combine them.

It would be another half century before writers did the obvious and combined action and adventure with crime and mystery to give birth to a newer, more visceral and appealing book - namely, the modern thriller.

The Modern Thriller Evolves

In America in the 1930s, the hard-bitten detective novels of Raymond Chandler and Dashiel Hammett continued to explore the Wilkie Collins investigation led dramatic scenario.

They focused on the private detective as reluctant hero in bleak urban landscapes with sometimes violent action, hard-bitten drama played out in grubby tenements, on street corners and often in the detective’s wealthy client’s drawing rooms.

Primarily, these stories portrayed real life but in an overtly stylized way.

The Maltese Falcon is curious because it’s told entirely without internal dialogue, no internal thoughts or feelings of any kind, almost like it’s a description of a movie version.

Interestingly this is a style that is highly regarded these days, if only because it’s quite hard to pull off!

It’s often struck me that the detective on the trail of the truth is really a glorified metaphor for the writer trying to find his way to the truth in a new, urban, complex and perhaps depressing 20th Century world.

Agatha Christie deserves mention here for many reasons.

Looking back at her work now and, although she was prolific and hugely successful, her writing is at best pedestrian, her characters two-dimensional and their worldview limited.

But despite all these apparent handicaps, during the 1940s and 50s, she outsold every other author on the planet!

There were many reasons for this.

For one, her stories embodied a golden age of England - and celebrated an Englishness that for many was appealing – even though the era as she portrayed it probably never existed!

Secondly, her stories are very easy to read.

The action is well paced, the characterization masterful and the murders shocking without being gory.

Plus, of course, the reveal is always a total surprise.

Third, her books were short paperbacks – and during years when paper was in finite supply (because of the Second World War and rationing), that made them cheap and portable.

Finally, she had shrewd agents and publishers.

At a time when books were seen as a luxury, Bodley Head were able to secure distribution deals in railways stations and newsagents – actually W H Smith - when other mainstream authors fought over bookshelf space and literary credibility, this was a breakthrough, and one that paid huge dividends.

From a literary point of view, the important thing to remember about Christie is that story is everything.

The author is in total control of the plot.

She lets you know all you need to know, (and a lot you don’t!) but she never cheats.

She held the aces, sure, but she knew exactly how to divert you away from the truth for long enough to make the ‘revealing’ at the end plausible and satisfying.

(Spoiler alert.) A great step forward for the thriller genre was achieved by Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, in which she cleverly made the narrator the eventually revealed murderer - making the ‘hero’ the ultimate unreliable witness!

One of the other things Agatha Christie did well was to create compelling detectives.

Who can forget Hercule Poirot, as memorable as he is ridiculous?

And what about the ever cute Miss Marple, the forerunner of Angela Lansbury’s character in Murder She Wrote?

Character creation is something we’ll be looking at closely soon.

Good, memorable characters, even drawn in shorthand, are the key to your success in this genre.

During the 1960s, writers like Ellery Queen continued the Christie tradition - transplanting criminal mysteries into ever more realistic surroundings - but it wasn’t until the 1970s that the modern thriller began to manifest itself in a more recognizable form.

Writers like Ira Levin and William Goldman burst on to the scene and became the first of a stream of genre thriller word-smiths to attract big money for their efforts.

Bestsellers like Rosemary’s Baby, A Kiss Before Dying, Marathon Man, The Stepford Wives and The Boys from Brazil set the tone for what was to come.

Truly sensational, stylistically economical, these stories startled the world with their simplicity and apparent conviction.

They were unpretentious entertainments written by unashamed storytellers, with text, dialogue and scenes designed to thrill, titillate and absorb.

They also contained what Hollywood calls ‘high concept’ premises - which means that the ideas behind them, while clever and well developed, can only work within the edifice that is the author’s world.

All of the above mentioned novels became Hollywood movies no doubt because of this ‘high-concept’ quality - and the fact that they were bestsellers of course!

Since then, we’ve seen the exponential growth of the thriller.

It’s a sophisticated genre now, full of many talented authors making some serious cash!

Let’s join them, shall we?

Take my hand…

(No, not that one, it’s got a gun in it.)

Form and Function

In its purest form, the modern thriller is simply about entertainment.

It’s probably the closest alternative to TV and film we still have.

Entertainment means escape and total absorption into another world.

The thriller is not usually about literary writing.

It can’t be.

Thrillers must totally absorb the reader, therefore, if they even notice the writing, then the story is not working as it should.

Yes, it’s important to provide interesting ideas, strong believable characters, compelling situations to care about and lots of action, twists, and excitement along the way.

But vicarious thrills are not always enough.

You must also provide an original seeming premise, an abiding theme and some sort of message, however simple.

Good fiction writing is about maintaining the fictive dream, perpetuating a willing suspension of disbelief in the reader.

The thriller goes further.

It involves the reader in mind games and gets them to grapple with the unknown and perhaps face some dark menace.

Read the back of thriller paperbacks, and you’ll know it’s also about provoking a visceral response – an adrenalin rush, or a feeling of terror or uncertainty - using mere words on a page.

We’ll be looking closely into all of these elements soon.

When it comes to format, the influence of the three-act play – a format as ancient as writing itself - cannot be underestimated.

Movies too, follow this same basic structure.

1. Introduction/set up

2. Resulting forward motion

3. Resolution/denouement

In the creative world, three acts is considered to be artistically and aesthetically right.

It works in much the same way as the golden ratio works.

It’s pleasing mathematically and psychologically.

But now we need to go further.

For an audience that has grown more sophisticated and demanding…

Enter the four-act story - which involves bringing your thriller to a kind of false end – and then carrying on for another act, ever tightening the tension, raising the stakes until the reader is almost breathless.

This is the way of the modern thriller.

More on this crucial aspect later too.

So what place does the thriller hold in our culture?

The thriller, to me, has gone beyond mere entertainment – that’s for sure.

I believe It’s now come to symbolize something much deeper.

The heroes of thrillers, like their ancient mythological counterparts, are not just involved in a quest to find out facts or confront an enemy.

They are also on a symbolic quest for truth and meaning.

In this sense, justice and revelation become an allegory for our own personal quest for meaning and enlightenment in our lives.

The Modern Thriller: Genres

These days, no compilation of thriller genres can be definitive. There are so many topics and cross genres that are known to work, and have proved popular, it’s getting harder to say what doesn’t fit, Rather than what does. The following, however, is a list of the many current classifications in use. If you think of more, let me know!

Crime

By far the most instantly recognizable genre nowadays is the ‘cop or murder thriller’.

It seems we have no trouble identifying with a strong, sensitive law enforcement officer who is bent on justice, perhaps full of righteous anger or revenge for some personal atrocity.

It’s become a cliché.

The cop with issues he purges by putting away bad guys.

But it’s cliche we accept, endorse and feel comfortable with, even though it’s probably outside of anything we would consider right for ourselves!

The cop on a mission has become our Odysseus, representing the values we hold dear, as much a part of a communal mythology than anything real.

More and more crime fiction is becoming obsessed with forensic detail - and medical gore - along with increasingly gritty surroundings.

that is appealing to the target audience.

Exponents of the genre are Patricia Cornwell, Kathy Reich's, Stuart McBride, Ian Rankin, (sometimes called Tartan Noir, Jonathan Kellerman, Sue Grafton, who died recently, just before finishing her Alphabet series, and the old guard like James Patterson, Elmore Leonard and Ed McBain.

Legal

The growth of the reality-based thriller has lead to the need for writers to know what they’re talking about (or at least appear to!), especially in the field of law enforcement, the court process and legal system generally.

It seems many people are entertained by the “law and order” aspect of crime drama.

Exponents of this competitive genre are John Grisham, Scott Turow, Richard North Patterson, William Bernhardt and Perri O’Shaughnessy.

Medical

Stories told by writers who have expert knowledge of medicine are always popular.

Readers like to feel they are privy to information only a surgeon, for insurance or a forensic pathologist, could divulge.

Some writers create this illusion with lots of research, like Patricia Cornwell.

Other writers are ex-doctors. Famously Robin Cook or Michael Crichton were both medical professionals before taking up novel writing.

Other exponents of this genre are Eileen Dreyer, Tess Gerritsen and John J Nance.

Political

Usually involving the President of the US and/or other world leaders, the CIA, FBI, ATF and senior police offices, these stories normally require a working knowledge of political and/or law enforcement and espionage agency structure.

Though this covert world may be initially confusing for mere writers perhaps, even just a cursory glance at current political and social systems will fill you in on how these things probably work.

Most political thrillers focus on ambition and power, deception and betrayal as primary motives for story.

Some excellent storytellers in this genre include Eric Ambler. Ken Follet, Frederic Forsyth, John Le Carre, Helen MacInness and, of course, Tom Clancy.

Techno

In the old days you could bluff technological based stories.

Ian Fleming created James Bond and a host of gadgets and hi-tech ways to defeat terrorists and power crazed individuals bent on world domination.

In fact, some of the gizmos featured in thrillers, even on US TV shows like Get Smart, were then created because the Russians, for instance, believed these items were real.

Nowadays, there’s a lot of real technology, just as awesome and complex as you might imagine.

Tom Clancy showed us the way in Hunt for Red October, a terrific book that, remarkably, was turned down by every major publisher because it was considered to be,

1. Unbelievable,

2. Overly technical and therefore,

3. Dull.

Ho wrong could all these major publishers have been?

What does this tell you about the people in the publishing industry?

Now don’t get me started…

Just maybe you should never listen to them because they don't know what they’re talking about!

Good tech fiction writers include Shirley Kennett, Stephen Coonts, Matthew Reilly, James Follet and Dale Brown.

Psychological

These thrillers normally work on a more cerebral level, using in-depth character analysis and emotion to generate suspense and intrigue.

If you don’t have too much technical knowledge, this can be a good genre to experiment with.

After all, in a sense, all thrillers are psychological to an extent.

None of the action has any bearing unless it has an impact on a character!

Some excellent writers in this field include Thomas Harris (inventor of Hannibal Lecter), John Lutz, John Case, Chris Carter, Michael Connelly and Jeffrey Deaver.

More genres coming up - next.

More Thriller Genres

Romantic

Sometimes also known as Gothic thrillers. Daphne du Maurier is probably the most instantly recognizable proponent of the genre, herself a much misunderstood writer.

As well as being the author of the faultless Rebecca and the paranormal thriller, House on the Strand, she also wrote The Birds, which, of course, Hitchcock used to such great effect in his movie of the same name.

Talking of film, Adrian Lyne’s movies Fatal Attraction, Indecent Proposal and Unfaithful would fall nicely into this genre, were they novels.

Other writers in this field include Joy Fielding, Mary Roberts Rinehart and Karen Robards.

Female in Jeopardy

Also known in the industry as ‘Fem Jep’ novels.

A woman is either stalked, terrorized or in physical danger - usually from an evil male, often an ex, with the notable exception of John Lutz’ Single White Female.

These are generally psychological thrillers focusing on the female and her quest for escape, revenge and/or justice.

It’s a popular genre for new women writers but publishers can be wary of them unless the details are handled realistically and the violence is not so graphic as to become gratuitous.

Notable exponents of the genre are Judith Kelman, Mary Higgins Clark and Marilyn Wallace.

Literary

These are navels that develop much characterization study, usually of flawed heroes and contain lots of realistic fine detail.

Look out for some great novels by PD James, Ruth Rendell, Denis Lehane, Joseph Wambaugh, Michael Dibdin, and David Hewson.

Alternate History

Dan Brown single-handedly popularized the notion of re-writing history in the thriller format.

Though certainly not the first to explore the idea, the mega success of The Da Vinci Code has resulted in Brown spawning an industry of imitators: Steve Berry, Scott Mariani, Tom Harper, Thomas Gifford, Andy McDermott, to name but a few.

These thrillers usually involve the juxtaposition of science, religion, myth and technology into a broad modern backdrop where the solving of mysteries usually include highly intelligent protagonists and antagonists in a quest to uncover sinister plots to destabilize the world.

Very much a product of our paranoid, conspiracy obsessed, 21st century society, where terrorists, politicians, corporate figureheads, celebrities and assorted megalomaniacs vie for supremacy in the media.

Why anyone would actually want to rule the world is rarely explored.

Action Adventure

These have re-emerged recently as a pre-eminent form of escapist thriller.

Usually involving lots of local geographic and detailed knowledge of urban surroundings.

Good authors in this popular genre are Michael Crichton, Clive Cussler, Robert Ludlum, Wilbur Smith and John Case.

Dark Urban

The popularity of Steig Larsson’s novels have ushered in a darker, sexio-psychological thriller into the mainstream, including other Scandinavian novelists, whose books are being translated into English, like Asa Larson, Camilla Lackberg and Henning Mankell.

Others, already working in this genre include Patricia Highsmith, Pete Dexter, Martin Cruz Smith and Tana French.

Corporate

A fairly new and untapped source of thriller writing.

Publishers tell me that professionals from all walks of life are apparently turning their hand to writing about their work place experiences as a basis for their stories.

A few years back, the corporate thriller as even tipped as the ‘next big wave’, but has yet to really take off in a serious way, hence the lack of authors here recommended!

Cross genre

Of course, there is always room for another sub-genre, one that you perhaps might put your own personal stamp on.

For a long time I have believed that readers do not necessarily buy books - they buy authors.

And if an author writes using a particular combination of influences and manages to maintain a large following, then their books can come to define a new genre.

Besides which, it’s sometimes self-serving to be retrospective when it comes to identifying genres and trends in writing.

Instructors often make the mistake of starting at the end result - the finished book - and backtracking to find causes and motivations the author probably never anticipated.

In reality, what happens is that a new author will start with nothing and painstakingly create a new kind of book, combining elements of other genres and a personal style that will separate their work from the herd.

This is what you should aim for. Not to consciously copy other writers or force your material into a genre.

As Elmore Leonard once said:

‘Don’t deliberately go after your readers. Write from your heart to be the best of your ability, and they will find you.’

Good advice there.

Next we look at character creation - and how to make heroes.

I suggest you get some sort of file together for this course.

You’ll need somewhere to keep all your notes, research material and plot maps etc.

To get the maximum benefit, you’ll need to do the exercises suggested in each lesson - in order - otherwise you might find it hard to keep up!

The thriller writer Jeffery Deaver once said it takes him about a year to construct a template for one of his novels.

We’re aiming to do the same in just a few days.

However, you have an advantage – you’re going to be doing it with the Academy!

Please note that this course is not intended as a painstaking slog around every aspect and nuance of writing a novel length thriller.

This course is more focused than that.

What you will learn is the basic ‘required’ genre template that ensures a thriller’s success.

Many new writers attempt to write what they consider thrillers only to find, after they’ve spent considerable time and energy on a project, that publishers - and readers - don’t see their manuscript in the same light.

Don’t fall into the trap of writing a semi-literary novel that won’t quite fit into the thriller genre.

Get it right first time!

Okay, there’s quite a bit to cover, so let’s get started.

Building Classic Characters – The Trinity

We went some way to defining the thriller in the introduction to this course but to paraphrase:

“A thriller is a story designed to convey excitement, mystery and suspense in order to entertain, educate and stimulate its audience.”

The key word in this definition is designed.

The best thrillers are methodically constructed to thrill and arrest a reader with a series of carefully constructed surprises, twists and revelations, usually involving active and dynamic characters with strong agendas.

Thrillers will usually involve a series of action-oriented set pieces in a variety of locations, sometimes exotic, sometimes mundane.

The story, the unfolding plot, the scene structuring and especially the writing must at all times be compelling.

By which I mean on topic, focused and always relevant to only the story.

In the thriller, there’s no room for lazy unfocused writing, long periods of introspection or swathes of unnecessary description and verbiage.

The thriller must grab readers by the lapels, force them to confront life and death issues and drag them along for a roller-coaster ride to the finish.

So, where do we start?

First, and always first, we need to look at the characters.

Characters are the backbone of any thriller.

Get them right and you’re half way there.

But what kind of characters?

The psychoanalyst Carl Jung was the first modern scholar to ask the following question:

Why do we have the same ‘types’ of characters continuously reappearing in fiction?

Why don’t readers get bored of seeing these apparently stereotypical people presented over and over again?

In answer to his question, he came up with the idea of Archetypes.

Without getting too technical, archetypes are instantly recognizable character ‘types’ ingrained deep in our subconscious through experience, dreams and instinct.

In Jung’s philosophy, these characters are part of what he called the ‘collective unconscious’ because on some deep level, we all share and identify with these ‘fictional archetypes’.

Though they might vary slightly from culture to culture, these archetypes are in effect hard wired into our brain chemistry to help us relate to and make sense of the world around us.

In simple terms, our brains like to classify types of people quickly so that we instantly know whether to like someone or to start running!

We do this instinctively, without thinking.

Have done since we lived in caves.

And we do it with fictional characters just as easily as we do with real people.

As a consequence of this, when we see heroes and villains presented to us in a book or on a screen, our subconscious mind instantly accepts their reality, and identifies with their apparent agendas and motivations - and instinctively knows whether the characters represent good or evil.

Dr Jung went further and said there were two basic archetypes which he called ‘anima’ and the ‘animus’ which are basically two sides of the same being – one good and one bad, which he also called the ‘shadow’.

It’s also a bit like the principle of yin and yang, where opposites co-exist to create a perfect whole.

Once we understand this concept, it becomes a lot easier to ‘design’ characters that fulfill the ‘archetypes’ that are necessary in all fiction - and especially thriller fiction.

Next lesson we take what we’ve learned so far and design our own characters

Your Character 10-Point Checklist.

Here’s a simple 10-Point checklist to help you visualize and construct your main characters:

1. Race

2. Appearance

3. Dress

4. Age

5. Occupation

6. Marital status

7. Three key characters traits

8. Two characters flaws

9. Main agenda - what does your character want most?

10. Name

You’ll find a PDF template of this checklist in the bonus section of this lesson.

Use this checklist to firm up the three main thriller characters in your mind.

You might also like to invent a one-line personal mission statement for each of the three lead characters.

For Example:

Geoff Chance (hero).

“I’ll make it through no matter what because the truth is what’s most important to me.”

Juliet Myer (sidekick).

“Geoff is the most important person in my life. He’s like a brother to me.”

Mark Doubt (bad guy).

“I want power and anyone who gets in my way better watch out.”

You can go into a lot more detail if you like but I don’t think it’s altogether necessary at this stage.

Often the most moving details fall into place later, during the writing.

I think it’s a mistake to fully develop your characters before you start writing.

For two main reasons.

One, if your character’s personality is set in stone there’s very little wiggle room when it comes to making them dynamic enough to be fun and surprising during the writing process.

And two, if you can predict what your lead characters will do at any given plot point, then your reader will probably be able to do the same.

Keep your planning loose is the best advice I can offer.

Give yourself room to breathe - and be inspired.

Let your characters, your plot, indeed, even your story develop by itself.

And don’t be surprised if your final manuscript is a little different from what you’d first imagined.

Of course, there are thousands of other ways to create an develop characters - many of them, to me anyway, overly complicated and unnecessarily complex.

You’re free to try other methods - like filling out 20-page questionnaires for your heroes - but as you will have guessed by now, I prefer to keep things easy and simple.

Why waste time inventing information that will never end up in your book?

However, if you do want to go the whole hog, as it were, there’s a couple of resources I can point you toward.

You should seek out my Easy Way to Write Short Stories That Sell for one.

There’s great section on how to make a character instantly likable.

Also make a point of trying my Character Creation Masterclass - a whole course I put together dedicated to just this one subject.

It’s not long but it is definitive - the last word on fictional character creation!

Check it out!

The Character Creation Formula

So – is there a formula for creating thriller characters?

It’s probably a mistake to think there is a formula per se but there are certainly guidelines. Which are:

Thriller characters,

1. Must have an acute sense of purpose.

2. Must be totally credible.

3. But should always be slightly larger than life

Ideally, good thriller characters should be like you and me, or someone we’d like to be, only more so.

The hero should be a culmination of what we could be and similarly, the villain should be an extension of our own dark side.

As a quick exercise, imagine the traits that you would like to have, if this were a perfect world.

Imagine yourself taller, more strikingly handsome, with stronger values, courageous and even more talented.

Also spend a few moments considering how wicked you could be, how vindictive and how cruel.

It’s okay, you’re allowed to do this – you’re a writer!

Using yourself for character creation as a starting point has many advantages, not least that your writing will be a lot more credible.

It also makes the whole process of writing fiction easier.

Definitely something I would endorse!

So, let’s get practical.

As I think I’ve already mentioned, all we need to start constructing a good thriller are three main characters.

1. The hero

2. The trusted friend and,

3. The villain

Of course, there may be lots of other characters in the final book but, before we start complicating everything, we should start with just these three.

Even at the end of your thriller writing, it is these three characters that should be crystal clear to your reader.

Simply put, your reader, after wading through perhaps 100,000 words should be able to instantly name these three characters.

If they can’t, you’ve probably failed to construct a genre thriller - or you’ve perhaps confused your reader with too much unnecessary information!

Remember, no matter how involved a project becomes, your aim should be clarity - based on simplicity.

In the thriller, intelligent and consistent focus is more important than anything like literary merit.

The art is in the story, and not necessarily the writing.

Although the writing is often good because it’s lean, purposeful and entirely focused on story.

And story starts with character - every time.

To go over each of our thriller archetypes briefly:

The hero must have a cause, a case or an agenda and be easy to identify with.

The trusted friend is there as a foil, a sounding board and a confederate.

The sidekick could be a friend, a sister, a mother, a rabbi, a cop, whatever.

It doesn’t matter too much.

What does matter is that the hero is not alone on his or her quest.

The villain doesn’t actually have to be a person.

It could be a faceless corporation, the government, a plague or evil itself.

However, having a character that is eventually revealed as the personification of villainous activity is very satisfying for a reader.

Even if your villain is not revealed until the last page, you will need to know who he or she is before you start, so that you can successfully plot backwards to get to your thriller’s opening scenes.

When inventing your characters, try to establish their agendas firmly in your mind.

Work out what your hero wants, internally and externally.

On the inside your hero might want world peace but he tells the people around him he simply believes in justice.

On the outside your villain might want to rule the world but on the inside, secretly, he might just want his mum to love him.

Agendas - private and public - are useful motivators for your characters.

They also crucial for plotting.

Once you know what your heroes and villains want, you can let them tell you how they might interact with your suggested plot.

And, if your hero’s and your villain’s agendas are directly at odds with each other, then you’re ensuring the maximum amount of drama can be milked in your plot.

Next we look at research: what to do, and what not to do.

Write what you know.

Sure, there’s much debate about this particular rule and whether it actually applies to fiction writing.

And if so, how much?

A prison officer once congratulated Stephen King on his knowledge of prison life in The Green Mile.

When asked how much research King had done, he admitted he’d done absolutely NONE.

Clearly, at some point, most writers will use their imagination in place of reality - if they didn’t, their books would most likely be very dull.

But when it comes to thrillers and setting them in the real world, a certain degree of reality based research is usually essential.

Especially when it comes to setting.

To keep things simple, try to set your story in an environment you are familiar and comfortable with.

Which to most of us means, set your story where you live.

And this means, to a certain extent, you story must ‘come out of’ where it’s set.

Too many new writers have what they believe is a strong plot and will spend many wasted hours trying the fit the real world into it.

A friend of mine once wrote a story based in a real prison, only to discover that later, when he finally managed to gain access to the actual place, it was impossible for his characters to have had certain conversations – because the blocks he envisaged were not adjacent.

I believe that in the same way as plot should come out of character, then story, place and setting should be determined by effective research.

And the fact is, it’s much easier to research locations that are close by.

We often overlook what’s around us and the rich material that is staring us in the face.

Writers tend to think that anywhere but their own back yard is glamorous and will often carelessly decide to set key parts of the action in places they’ve never been.

This is a big mistake to make in a mass market thriller.

Given the global nature of readership and people’s natural penchant for criticism, writing about an unfamiliar location could be a decision a writer may come to regret.

My sincere advice is, unless you are writing about a completely imaginary place, do not set your action anywhere you have not physically been.

Once you decide to work to this maxim, then research becomes a whole lot easier.

You’ve probably seen the credits for movies and TV cop shows.

There’s often a script consultant in there from the police or some other area of expertise.

Producers and directors use them to verify normal procedure for instance.

Most times these consultants are brought in after the script is written.

From their advice, lines of plot are sometimes tweaked to better reflect reality.

However, and this is important, if the drama is plausible and ‘could’ happen given the circumstances, the fiction will win out – because convincing fiction is often seen as being far more believable than the facts!

At the end of the day, let’s face it, all fiction is a lie.

The sometimes anal way critics try to destroy the veracity of a fictional premise is, to me, rather silly - if not wonderfully flattering.

Sure, most thriller readers want your story to be at least based on some degree of fact.

But using the real world as a starting point, it’s then up to the writer to run with what is plausible and believable within the context of their story.

There’s a well documented phenomena whereby the truth is sometimes not credible to the fiction reader.

Funny how people will reject a true story for being unbelievable, but accept a falsehood when it’s credible.

The most amazing part about this truism is that a thriller author’s imagination can sometimes create a scenario that is seemingly more true than reality.

That’s the power of a good thriller.

Research

The average thriller writer needs to know about a lot of things - and to be able to see and understand the relationships between them.

An author of literary may be able to survive and write millions of words based on their their own minds and their perceptions.

They might understand human nature to a degree and be able to expend acres of verbiage on the subtle machinations of the soul.

However, thriller writers need to be far more rooted in the real world.

They need to be able to observe, collate and understand a lot of information about local and international politics, medicine and forensics, corporate structure, law enforcement, defense hierarchies, weapons, technology, the state of science, religion, the threat of terrorism - all this on top of a good grasp of human psychology.

Plus, the thriller author needs to understand the importance of ancient and modern history and and the current events of many countries - and how these issues shape and corrupt the world we live in.

This is one of the reasons why thriller writers are so well respected.

They not just writers - they’re also, to a degree, polymaths!

By their tenth book, the average author would know more about the world and how it works than most people learn in a lifetime.

But for your first book, keep it simple.

Only learn what you need to know for your story.

Don’t let yourself bogged down in details.

Keep things simple wherever possible.

Keep your main locations local.

That way, you’re there.

You can check everything you need to know - and aware of the little details like the sounds and smells of a place that the internet cannot tell you about.

Researching your preferred locations by scouting your own town or city is fairly straightforward.

(See my sister course to this: The Easy Way to Write Crime Fiction That Sells for more information on researching your story locations.)

But what about everything else?

How do you pick up information for your book?

If you’re not one of those people who follows the news everyday - as I’m not - where do you start?

There are some very good writers’ reference books around these days.

Writer’s Digest is source of many of them.

The Writer’s Complete Crime Reference Book by Martin Roth is a great start for thriller author.

Also Cause of Death – a writer’s guide to death, murder and forensic medicine by Keith D Wilson, MD.

And A Writer’s Guide to Police Organization and Crime Investigation and Detection by D J Cole.

I’m sure you’ll find many on Amazon and Kindle too - if you prefer ebook downloads, as many of us do for reference material.

When I’m in real world bookstores, I tend to buy any and all writer’s reference books as soon as I see them.

You can never have too many is my view.

Plus, I enjoy reading other professional writers’ perspectives on pretty much anything.

But, before you rush out and spend all your money on books you may never read, stop.

Many times the information you glean from these sources is either out of date, can’t answer your specific questions or doesn’t quite apply to your book.

You can easily end up with information overload and still get no closer to the facts.

Worst scenario: you read all around your subject and then forget the key issues!

Research for thrillers is not just about reading books and making notes, it’s about getting your hands dirty too!

As far as you can, get physically involved in your research, interact with people who can tell you what you need to know.

You’ll remember data better.

Plus, your hands on approach will improve the way your brain processes the information and this will no doubt raise the level of your fiction.

For instance, when you go to the library to look up facts, don’t do the usual writer thing - going immediately to the reference section to pore over old tomes.

Nothing is better designed for you to get distracted, bored and finally, lost.

No, remember that librarians are your friends.

They like to be asked questions.

They will often offer vast amounts of information on where to find and cross reference material you may spend ages trying to find yourself.

This is their job.

Never be afraid of pumping your librarian with questions, helping them to hone in on ever more precise information sources.

Networking as a Research Tool

As a novel writer, you don’t have time to waste browsing for general information.

Passively seeking out areas of research can be long-winded and ultimately time wasting.

Be like one of your characters.

Ask questions of people that lead you straight to the facts.

For instance, if you need information from your local police station, go there.

There’s nothing quite like being in a police station to give you some feel for the reality of law enforcement - and how a criminal might react to the environment.

And, when you’re at the inquiries desk, never start the conversation with, “I’m a writer and…”

The desk clerk will have switched off before you finished the sentence!

Rather say, “I need some information. I wonder if you can help me…” Then ask a specific question, for instance, “When someone is taken into custody for fraud, what forms do you need to fill out?”

Don’t be nebulous, ask questions that can be answered quickly.

Confirm a fact by stating it and then asking whether it’s true.

This is a journalist’s trick - and can inspire people to talk more thoroughly to correct your (erroneous or simplistic) point of view.

The important thing is not to waste people’s time.

Officials in all walks are often more interested in talking, or more willing to pass you on, if you obviously tried to know your stuff or have at least thought through your questions.

The medical profession too is generally too busy for idle chitchat (unless you’re paying for it!)

If you need to ask a question from a doctor and have nowhere else to turn, be precise, be willing to wait for the answer (they might not be able to give it immediately) and be patient and courteous.

Or try your own doctor.

They are often knowledgeable about a great many things, not least where you can go to elicit good authoritative information sources on many medical matters.

When it comes to many of the issues a thriller writer might need to explore, often self-styled ‘experts’ have a more thorough knowledge than the professionals themselves!

Journalists and consultants with expertise in a particular field can be a valuable writers’ resource.

Look for them, converse with them – most of them love to chat.

Researching Using The Net

Of course, the modern way to research is via the Internet.

But you do need to be careful.

Often the information online is not always true or accurate.

Different sources often contradict each other.

Some sites seem to be authoritative but are not.

Wikipedia is a case in point.

Many people believe that Wiki is the authority on everything, that any and all the information it contains is the final word.

But you should be aware that Wiki is compiled by ordinary people like you and me - and many of them are not impartial reporters nor are they objective or in possession of all the facts.

In one instance this came home to me in spades.

A while back I was quoted - yes, little old me - as the source of a ‘fact’ on Wiki.

The Wiki writer stated that a certain thing was true because I said it was in an article I’d written.

Further research on my part showed me that my ‘fact’ was actually wrong!

I’ve since amended my article but the fact remained as “gospel” on Wiki.

So do be careful with online research, especially when it comes to dates, figures and names.

Try to find at least three sources of information that say the same thing.

I once mentioned a particular gun in one of my stories because an online magazine ran a review of it.

Later, an eagle eyed reader informed me that the gun I’d mentioned wasn’t made by the company I’d stated.

I went back to the review and, sure enough, the correct manufacturer had been inserted after I’d consulted it.

So I had to go back and change my manuscript for the next edition of the book! 

D’oh!

Sure, trawl through search engines and visit websites, but also think about contacting corporate, public service and government institutions direct.

There’s often some very helpful people sitting in offices that like to answer questions about their job or area of expertise.

Many will prefer email.

Good.

This will save wasting your time trying to get through unhelpful ‘help’ desks. (The scourge of our age!)

Try sending emails to a ‘corporate communications’ department or some such – ask your question and suggest that your email be forwarded to a person who can supply an answer.

Sometimes you might have to wait a couple of days but you’d be amazed at the quality of the information returned.

Chat groups are also a good source of info.

But again remember that opinion is not the same as fact.

Log on to groups that seem relevant.

Ask questions, interact, make it personal.

Cultivate friendships online with people who want to help you get your facts straight.

Talking of friends, we often forget that the people most likely to help are those around us.

Sometimes, someone you know will have knowledge on a subject completely unsuspected until you bring it up.

And don’t forget friends of friends!

With apparently just six degrees of separation between ourselves and everyone else on the planet, just think who you could potentially meet through your friends?

It’s this personal contact that enriches not only our fiction but ourselves.

Because the closer you get a living, breathing information source, the more real and pertinent that information becomes - to your writer’s mind.

Time spent surfing or poring over books in the library is nothing compared to face-to-face information exchange, especially when it’s emotionally charged!

But all of this research will help you only up to a point.

The facts won’t help at all if your story is not believable.

Why?

Because the truth can sometimes can make your story lifeless.

Plus, it can often be the case that getting something wrong is what gives your story life.

Look at Dan Brown - and his penchant for selective memory.

Sometimes the premise for his books is entirely hinged on an incorrect assumption, or an inaccurate portrayal of the facts.

Whole documentaries have been made to point out Dan Brown’s mistakes!

But do his readers care?

Well, actually a little.

But the thing is Dan Brown writes fiction.

And without his unique way of assessing information and picking what might work as a story idea, there would be no Dan Brown novels!   

Also, one of the most curious elements about fiction writing is this: When it comes to logic and apparent truth, an author is often able to imagine a plausible scenario that an expert will later confirm as true.

Because if you absorb the information you receive, dwell on it and think it through, then your fiction – even if some of the details might be inaccurate – will probably be more credible than the facts.

Curious - but true!

Do I know the start?

A compelling opening is a must for the thriller. You need action, drama and / or an emotionally jolting experience to kick-start a thriller.

If you don’t have something that fits the bill in this regard, keep brainstorming until you have a ‘shocking’ intro.

You might need to find a moment in the story that you can use as a prologue.

Many writers do this.

Either use an event that comes later in the story - and then write what is essentially a long flashback up to that point.

Or, choose a dramatically charged event like a murder or a bloody stand-off or an explosion or a car crash to suck your reader right into the middle of some action.

This is a genre convention that it’s wise to emulate.

For one, it shows off your writing to best effect right from the first page.

Do I know the ending?

In the thriller everything leads to the climactic ending.

Similarly, the ending sends ripples back to the start of the story.

You can’t know how to plot a thriller without knowing the ending - or type of ending - you want first.

This will make more sense to you as this course progresses.

For the moment, start thinking of your story’s denouement.

Make it big and exciting.

Typically there’s a chase scene, moments full of life or death decisions, a confrontation with evil or a series of earth-shattering events.

Choose one or more of the elements you will need to offer closure to your novel.

Do it now.

Make notes.

What is the theme of your story?

Good defeats evil is the obvious one.

But do you have something more profound you want to say?

Or something more subtle?

Though it’s not entirely necessary, having some idea of the moral stance you want to take with your novel can aid your creativity.

Also it can help you focus on whether you’re actually writing a thriller!

If you find that you’re overall message is that, say, love conquers greed, this will help you focus on how this idea manifests within the thriller genre.

Having no particular moral stance will often undermine a thriller - and create a manuscript that may be more comfortable in a more ‘literary’ niche.

Of course your own personal agendas should be invisible to the reader.

So be careful not to sermonize!

What is your big idea?

When you pitch thrillers at publishers and film producers these days, they usually want to know the ‘unique selling proposition’.

What is it that makes your story different from other thrillers?

You’ll often be asked what’s your hook?

Or what’s your angle?

High concept thrillers are often based on an original sounding premise.

Do you have one yet?

Think about other thrillers you know and like.

Can you sum up the idea behind the stories in one sentence?

That’s what you’re aiming for.

There’s a secret conspiracy to hide the fact Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene.

That’s one I’m sure you’ll recognize.

Scientists have the technology to bring back dinosaurs.

That’s another.

Try to sum up your big idea, your angle, in one sentence.

Write it down.

Does the fate of your characters endorse your premise?

You shouldn’t have to overtly state your premise in your book.

Or at least not too many times!

But what you should have is a story plot that ‘shows’ your premise to be true.

Think about who lives and who dies in your story.

Do characters live because their agendas are worthy?

Do characters die for the right reasons?

These are important questions to ask yourself now - before you go about creating stories that bear little relation to the themes you want to prove in your prose.

If lots of innocent people die for instance, what does that say about your worldview?

Are you being too callous perhaps?

If the bad guy doesn’t die at the end or at least pay for his crimes, what will the reader think of that?

Will they understand your ambiguous morality?

Or should you be more sympathetic to your reader’s sensibilities?

All stuff to ponder…

Backward Plotting

If you’re writing a great thriller, one designed to compete in the marketplace, it’s my belief that unless you plot backwards, your ending can’t work satisfactorily.

This is because good thrillers need logical climaxes, credible twists and watertight structure - all of which need pre-plotting and careful thought.

For instance, in most murder mysteries, it’s important that you, the author, knows the identity of the killer so that you can effectively steer the reader away from the truth with red herrings, bluffs and misinformation.

Agatha Christie once said it was her job to make the most obvious suspect look like the least likely killer.

Think of Scott Tiro’s first novel, Presumed Innocent.

This book would have been impossible to write had the author not minutely examined the murder scenario, knew all the facts, worked the story backwards and decided to hide the obvious from the reader within his writing.

Here’s a simple way to plot backwards:

Take a piece of paper and write ENDING in the middle at the top.

On the bottom write INTRO.

It’s best to do this in freehand because I don’t know of any software that will allow to create something this organic!

Under the ENDING tag, write a short heading describing your finale.

Killer revealed, or Justice prevails, something like that.

Under INTRO, write a short heading describing your start.

Note: Don’t forget to start with a captivating event – usually one that challenges your hero/heroine from page one.

Now, imagine your ending is a plant or a tree.

The top of the page is ground level.

In pencil, now draw a rough system of roots extending from the top of the page down to the bottom.

Some will stop half way down the page, some will join others and one will go all the way down the page to join your intro tag.

Think of your thriller ending as having lots of ‘roots’ in the story.

These roots are all elements introduced at various times during the narrative.

The important thing to bear in mind is that the stories plot elements, no matter where they appear in your book, are all inexorable closing in on your ending.

In a tight plot, you have no threads that go anywhere but toward your climax.

With that in mind, start to make headings in among your root system that signify key story events, emotional ‘beats’ and plot points.

Take your ten point plot template and place the headings in among the roots. 

Next we continue with the plotting…

Plot Development

Now, if backward plotting seems too hard to do at first, think of it like this:

Each of your main characters will clearly need to somehow arrive at the end of the story.

Ask yourself, how many specific events (usually portrayed as scenes) will need to take place before this happens?

Make a list of those scenes in reverse order.

Then place those scene headings onto to your root system.

Make a scene list for each of the three main characters.

You might end up with about 5-10 or even 20 plot points for each character.

Place these plot points somewhere on your root system.

It’s not essential they’re in exactly the right place when you do this the first time - but as you fill up the page with headings, you should be able to work out where events will likely transpire.

Focus on the climactic ending - where all the story elements will be resolved - and then track back.

Ask yourself, at which point in the story do I need to introduce this sequence of scenes?

How do the events coincide with the other main character’s journey.

When do you need to introduce certain events and secondary characters?

At what point do specific plot events need to happen?

If you find everything is clustering around the beginning or the ending (at the top or the bottom of the page) then make a conscious effort to spread out the drama - this will help pacing.

Now think about some of the proposed conversations between your characters.

How much information will need to be exchanged at certain points?

At which points in the story will these conversations take place?

Make a separate list of the pertinent information exchanges - give them headings and then place these headings on your root system.

Think hard about the time scale in your story.

How long is represented by your page? Two days? Two weeks? Two years?

For most thrillers, time is critical.

The best way to proceed in this case is to plot with the help of a calendar, making sure you have enough time for everything to happen.

On the left hand side of your root page, mark time periods so that you know when certain events transpire.

If your root system is looking messy, start over and make a fresh one.

When it’s done to your satisfaction, pin it up on a wall and admire it.

You now have a graphical representation of your thriller.

Stare at it for a while.

Look at all the headings.

Are they in the right places? If not, move them around until the story has a symmetry you’re comfortable with.

Does every plot element, scene, character crisis point etc lead towards the ending?

Keep working and thinking until you’re satisfied that everything in your story is there for a reason (even if it’s there as a red herring) and cross off developments that are unpromising and will probably lead nowhere.

Include sub plots but make sure that extraneous story threads are removed.

Delete ideas you might make the mistake of developing if they don’t specifically drive the story.

Now, starting at the bottom, begin numbering the headings again.

This renumbering will place the entire plot in the order you believe the story should best be told.

As you’re doing this, if you haven’t already thought of a big opening you should find that a coherent and plausible story beginning will take shape in your mind.

You might also begin to see interesting layers of complexity that you might want to add to your thriller.

This is good.

How much further can you push the envelope without straining credibility and without making the novel too hard to write?

Now that you can visualize your thriller in one graphical format, do you see other interactions or plot lines that might add to the excitement, the action or the intrigue?

Think about thrillers generally - and see yours alongside them.

Do you cover all the bases?

Is there enough going on?

Or too much?

Keep sculpting your story plot until it contains symmetry - by which I mean everything that happens is self contained with your world, that the ending is complemented by your beginning and vice versa.

But remember the golden rule: keep it simple.

If you start over-complicating the plot now, it will make your story much harder to write. Writers have a tendency to do this, especially at this stage when the possibilities begin to seem endless.

But you need rein in your imagination usually at this stage and just focus on the ONE story.

Because that’s what your eventual reader is looking forward to.

Not a jumble of intriguing ideas but a WHOLE edifice, driven by one compelling idea, that leads logically from the thrilling start to an explosive end.

Done all that?

Great.

At this point you should be able to relax and congratulate yourself on a job well done.

Point of View

Now, before you go on from here, you will need to make a decision about who’s going to be telling your story.

Remember that it is inappropriate to tell the story from a god-like perspective.

No, you want the characters to tell the story - and preferably as much as possible the lead character, your hero.

Who is telling your story is crucial.

It will dictate whether certain actions and events are experienced first hand by the protagonist (and therefore by the reader), or whether (in the case of an ‘I’ story) some information is simply relayed to the hero second hand.

‘I’ stories are compelling because they put the reader right in the middle of the action.

But that means the hero can’t know everything - which can make it difficult to let the reader know what else is happening with the other characters unless the hero directly experiences those events.

Limited third person gets around this problem by allowing the writer to tell the story from different perspectives - just not all at the same time. 

It used to be that you either chose third or first person but never both.

However, nowadays there’s no rule saying you can’t use multiple viewpoints and the first person.

Thomas Harris, James Patterson, Dan Brown and Jonathon Kellerman, to name but a few, all prove it can be done successfully, if you handle it correctly.

It’s just about being consistent about your viewpoints, staying with one character’s thoughts at a time - usually for a whole chapter - or having a break in the text before you switch point of view to another character.

In modern bestsellers, point of view stays with the protagonist for over 80% of the time - with brief forays into the mind of the antagonist, secondary characters and events impossible to relate without some degree of omniscience.

Whatever you do, you need to play fair.

Your story needs to be logical.

Don’t hold back information that should be obvious to the characters.

Foreshadow information and solutions to problems.

Don’t hide facts that the characters should be able to work out.

Don’t cheat, in other words!

Back to Your Roots

Now take your root system and write out your list of plot points in numerical order.

The right way round this time - from the top down.

Now analyze your list and check that the story makes sense both ways – forwards and backwards.

Decide now that you will always ‘show’ instead of tell.

Change your story to reflect that decision, usually by replacing exposition with actual scenes that play out action and remove the need for the author to ‘explain’ things.

Okay?

Now, when I’ve taught this method in class, many new writers will scratch their heads and look confused.

So if you understand what I’ve said, you’re ahead of the game!

Plus, it’s the actual drawing of your personal root system that will help you.

Sex and Death

When people read thrillers they want some form of escape.

They also want excitement and the sense that they are participating in something extraordinary.

That’s not to say they don’t want to believe that what they’re reading is real – or could be.

They want veracity, yes, but they also want something more – a sense of danger or intrigue or mystery that is outside of their normal experience.

For instance, though we may abhor violence in real life, we will accept it in fiction because, once removed, it’s seen as exciting, gripping and fun.

Subjecting your hero to pain beyond what we could normally stand in real life is acceptable too.

We want our heroes to be able to suffer, overcome hardship and continue on their quests for truth and justice.

Indeed, if the pursuit of justice is too easy for your heroes, the reader will feel dissatisfied and perhaps a little cheated.

And if, God forbid, protagonists were actually defeated, your readers would howl in disgust.

Which is why, you might have noticed, it’s just not done.

Nobody wants a hero to fail.

So, in the modern thriller, they don’t.

But if the ‘happy’ ending is in this sense almost inevitable, how do keep your thriller interesting and compelling?

Well, there’s lots of tricks – mainly to do with keeping the reader guessing and getting them to ask questions in their minds along the way.

This lesson, I want to focus on ten vital components of the modern genre thriller.

SEX

Sex is always a healthy ingredient in thrillers, if used with care and caution.

Since the advent of AIDS, careless promiscuity is frowned upon by most genre readers, as is overt sexism and sexual abuse.

Consequently your sex scenes should not be overly gratuitous, although, if you think it helps the plot, they can be as steamy as you like.

Just be careful that you don’t make the sex more interesting than the story!

As a general rule, the protagonists have sex for all the right reasons: love, commitment and as an expression of their respect.

The bad guys just fornicate.

The description of violent non consensual sex is an effective way to instill loathing for your antagonist.

Similarly it becomes important that your hero’s sexual conduct is above reproach.

Suggestions that they may be promiscuous because they have no respect for the opposite sex will not make your hero likable, whatever their gender. 

It’s best if sex serves a purpose in your plot.

Ideally, to ‘bond’ certain characters at key points in your story.

Almost inevitably this seems to happen at the two thirds point in most thrillers - at the point at which the bond between the hero and love interest needs to be at its strongest - because this is usually at the point where the antagonist kidnaps or threatens the love interest to antagonize the hero.

One of the reasons why I find this particular cliche irritating is often the antagonist kills everyone in his path with speed, efficiency and callousness - until it comes to the hero and his or her lover.

Then suddenly the bad guy will completely change his modus operandi and merely ‘tie up’ the hero or love interest or put them in some sort of dungeon.

I keep asking myself: why doesn’t he just kill them like he’s done with everyone else?

I digress…

Be careful when it comes to ‘classic’ structure.

Try not to fall into cliche.

Dan Brown’s stories are notable for their complete lack of sex - which may or may not be a conscious decision.

But I have wondered why Langdon never has sex with his sidekicks - they’re all ultra-attractive females after all.

What is he, a monk?

Maybe Dan is just not comfortable writing sex scenes.

Or that he sees his heroines as sister figures, so far above men - like saints or Madonnas of some kind.

It’s especially odd because Brown claims his inspiration to become a writer was Sidney Sheldon - a writer completely comfortable with gratuitous sex!

But you should bear in mind, as Sheldon did, that too much sexual titillation and the story can suddenly seem less interesting – readers will start to flick through the book looking for more sex scenes!

But too little - or none at all - and your reader might wonder if there’s something wrong with your hero / heroine.

After all – the people in modern thrillers are invariably  attractive, red blooded and passionate - so abstinence can then become a glaring characterization issue.

And then there’s the obvious connection between sex and death - one inspiring the other etc.

Or is that just an old cliche too?

That’s the thing with cliches.

Sometimes they’ve been around for so long that when you think them through, they don’t make sense anymore.

WEAPONS

Of course, firearms are a mainstay of many thrillers.

From the handgun to all manner of hi-tech artifacts, weaponry can play a significant part in a thriller plot line.

In fiction, the gun is basically the ultimate metaphor for personal power.

You know the scene. The individual who holds the gun gets center stage.

Yep, he’s the guy who gets to talk without being interrupted.

To say this scenario has been overused is an understatement.

It’s almost as if writers use the gun to deliberate focus the reader’s mind on some piece of exposition.

Usually the motivation behind the antagonist’s killing spree.

In reality, guns are nasty and violent things.

They do considerable damage physically.

And, as anyone who’s ever been involved with a real gun incident will tell you, the emotional scars they can create are deadly too.

Be aware of this when you write about them.

To be flippant about violence may be your style but having characters - even heroes - that are deeply moved by violence will make your characterization more sympathetic and credible.

But also be aware that it’s not only guns that can kill and maim your characters.

There are also knives, ropes, physical attack, poisoning, strangulation, electrocution, drowning, explosives, lethal injections, falls from high buildings… the list goes on.

In my mind, you should try to think of novel ways for people to die in fiction.

There are plenty of them.

A bizarre death will keep your reader entertained better than just a regular killing.

One of the genre conventions is to think of original deaths.

TECHNOLOGY

The use of modern technology is a must for the 21st century thriller.

Mobile communication devices, cars, boats, rockets, cameras and computers in all their incarnations are always fascinating to readers these days.

Far from dehumanizing a plot, technology is often a compelling fictional character in its own right.

I think secretly we believe that machines will one day change our lives irrevocably – and only perhaps for the better – so we enjoy seeing what they can do.

Technology is already an integral part of our modern culture.

Use it liberally in your thriller.

It’s impossible to think of James Bond without his gadgets, some of which didn’t exist when Fleming introduced them into his stories, but which were subsequently developed because the US military believed that, if they were in James Bond books, somebody somewhere (probably the Russians) must be using them!

Tom Clancy introduced the world to a completely computerized submarine in The Hunt for Red October.

Most of Dan Brown’s novels have emergent technology at the center of their plots. The ‘God particle’ in Angels and Demons, the ultimate computer encryption code in Digital Fortress, germ warfare in Inferno and the mysterious underground artifact in Deception Point. (Yes, Dan Brown has written lots of other great books.)

It’s hard to think of Matthew Reilly without his liberal use of modern weapons and technology.

The word Maglite always springs to mind when I think of Reilly’s stories.

As does the word Humvee when I think of Lee Child.

Clearly some authors have their favorite bits of tech.

And if you’re writing a modern thriller, it behooves you to keep abreast of new technology that you may be able to use in your story.

MINOR CHARACTERS

When it comes to your main characters, your focus on them through your writing should be enough to make them memorable to your reader.

But how do you deal with minor characters?

It’s not hard for a reader to get lost when you introduce minor characters, especially if you have a lot of them.

One simple technique is to give them quirks that make them more memorable: ‘distinguishing marks’ which you can refer to if and when you introduce them - and then later when they reappear.

For instance, a nondescript scientist in a lab coat will become far more memorable if you refer to his bald head, fat hands or his twitch.

The sexy librarian is a bit of a cliche but at its root, it’s just an attempt to make this minor character stand out.

Sue Grafton uses selected character quirks and mannerisms to make her usually long list of ‘suspects’ more easily identifiable.

A useful trick is for the first person protagonist to refer to minor characters as we do in real life.

The bald guy.

The blond woman.

The kid with the squint.

Denis Lehane does this often.

The bad guy’s henchmen become Muscle-man and Scar-face for instance, instead of referring to them by names the reader may get confused by.

It’s important not to get too involved in long descriptions of minor characters.

The longer you describe a character, the more significance a reader will attach to that person.

Not always a good thing when a minor character is just that.

EXPERT KNOWLEDGE

Expert knowledge in any field can help lift the narrative in a thriller.

Stephen King mentions this in his book On Writing.

Often readers enjoy characters who can pontificate at length about their particular vocation.

Even if it’s a bricklayer for instance who can explain the intricacies of building a wall, or a clockmaker who can verbalize the mechanics behind a watch.

Think about your own life.

Is there anything you do - or have an interest in - that might have potential for exploitation in your thriller?

If you work in an office, is there some admin system that might seem interesting to an outsider?

In The Firm, John Grisham explains how the use of the photocopier is billed to a lawyer’s clients.

Not fascinating you’d think - but actually within the plot, it is - especially because it becomes significant to the story later on.

If you’ve ever worked on a factory production line you might possess inside knowledge about a manufacturing process a reader might find riveting if you described it.

Perhaps you have an interest in something ordinary like stamp collecting, keeping fish or going to the gym.

It’s worth thinking about how you can work your ‘specialist’ knowledge into your stories.

If in doubt, look things up online.

Especially regarding your characters, major and minor.

Perhaps there are subtleties and little anecdotes you can add to your narrative to give it depth and the feeling of veracity.

SLEAZE

In the same way that everybody loves gossip (though we might deny it) we are all to some degree fascinated by sleaze.

Just how low will some people go?

Look at the success of shows like Jerry Springer, Oprah, even Doctor Phil.

Surely one of the main reasons why these program works is that we just can’t believe how sleazy people can be – and how gross their lives and relationships are!

I guess it’s partly a vicarious thrill.

Our own moral compass is clearer to define once we see someone doing something we wouldn’t dream of!

Don’t be afraid of introducing sleazy, immoral, lowlife characters into your story.

Not only do they make your heroes look better, they add an extra dimension to your literary skills.

Writers who can describe all kinds of different characters from a pious monk to a crack-infested hooker are seen as more talented than someone who sticks with what they know.

Being able to put yourself inside the head of a scumbag - and analyze his or her thought process - is one of the perks of being a writer!

LOCATION

When you’re picking locations for your action, think dramatic.

Why have people meeting in a coffee shop or a wine bar when they could meet at a planetarium or at a fireworks display?

Try to add spice to your settings to complement the foreground action.

Similarly when it comes to your big important scenes, set them among new and novel surroundings like amusement parks, national monuments or on an oil rig or an airship or whatever gets you excited.

Think outside the box and imagine all the places you could set your action, even if you end up settling for the mundane.

AUTHORITY FIGURES

Authority figures can add depth and realness to your work.

Don’t be afraid of using composite politicians, senators, rock singers, movie stars, models, police commissioners, CEOs and community leaders in your thriller fiction.

Not so long ago, there was a time when none of us knew what these people were really like.

But with the advent of 24-hour news and current affairs programs, we all know how they act, look and can guess what their agendas are.

Larger than life characters like this can lift your story into the real world for the reader.

Don’t limit your characters to the ordinary - and don’t be afraid to fictionalize presidents and popes and celebrities.

At the very least, you’ll have fun doing it.

TIME

The use of time cannot be underestimated in your thriller.

Having characters racing against the clock is a crucial element in raising tension and excitement.

Things like having a zero hour when the bomb will explode, or the terrorist will kill a hostage all help to intensify action.

As I said, it’s a good idea to plot your thriller to a clock and a calendar, even if you don’t refer to time during your story.

Timing everything is a good way to fix logic flaws before they arise in your plot.

Knowing WHEN something happened relative to something else - and how long certain events take to unfold - can help with your scene construction too.

We’re all familiar with the old “you’ve got 24 hours to solve this case” scenario.

It doesn’t get old. Use it.

STAKES

And finally, remember the golden rule: whenever you can, raise the stakes.

Make a tense situation more life-threatening, every time, if you can.

Raise the stakes emotionally and literally.

Have that deadly virus not just threaten a hospital ward but the whole town.

Make that hostage the hero’s sister or lover.

Have the hero willing to risk everything, his life and limbs, his family and his sanity - not just his house or car or his dignity.

When you’re looking through your plot, keep thinking of ways to make the story more compelling, more thrilling by adding the above ingredients liberally.

Tighten the screws, as they say.

But, of course, if in doubt, keep it real.

Readers, publishers and literary agents love thrillers.

Not just because they sell well but also because they know that thriller writers are different – they’re more intelligent, can plot well and know the craft of fiction writing literally ‘inside out’.

They have to – to be able to write thrillers!

And thriller writers are well-respected individuals for another good reason.

They bring that little something extra to the table – not just their writing but also the desire to intrigue, baffle and most of all, entertain.

That makes thriller writers – like you – special.

And don’t you forget it!

The last lesson concerned the bits and pieces to add to your template to make your story more ‘thrilling’.

This next lesson concerns a look at the structure of your ‘quest for truth’ and how you go about creating an overall ‘feel’ for your book that is as balanced as it is satisfying to read.

Take some time out.

Go for a walk.

Try to conjure up your entire novel in your mind.

Rather than thinking about all the different elements, try to see your story as a whole.

If you had less than two minutes to tell someone about your story, what would you say?

What would you say it was about?

What’s its theme?

What’s its moral, its point?

Imagine your story as a movie.

What would people say about it after they’d seen it?

What would they say it was about?

These are important questions because they will shape how your story looks and feels to you.

If you’re having trouble visualizing your own thriller, try this:

Take a piece of paper, put it on its side and draw a diagonal line from the bottom left to the top right.

Now draw a line down the center of the page, splitting the diagonal line in half. Then draw two more vertical lines, on either side of the center line. This is a graphical representation of your 4-act thriller, where the diagonal up hill climb is your basic storyline.

By the way, if you think in terms of your story ‘climbing’ as in intensifying from beginning to end across the 4 acts, then you won’t go far wrong.

Now, write short statements in each of the first three quarters that sum up the main thrust of each act.

For the fourth quarter, write ‘the chase and the fight scene.’

We talked a little about the 3-act plot in the introduction, but here’s where I want to introduce the 4-act concept.

The three-act play or story is the oldest of formats, dating back thousands of years.

In modern times it has become more familiar to us as the three-reel format used in the movies that last about ninety minutes - because it used to be that a reel of film was at most just thirty minutes long - so it made sense to think in terms of a three reel movie!

As a writer, it’s your job to spend the first act of your story setting up the location, the characters, their major conflicts, agendas and a few obstacles.

You then should spend the second act of your story dealing with the consequent actions and interactions, where your characters pursue those agendas and overcome their obstacles in pursuit of the truth.

Then in the final ‘act’ all the elements and characters are pulled together for a logical resolution.

This, in essence, is how stories have been constructed since the dawn of writing, and probably, in oral form, before.

The modern FOUR-act thriller follows the same basic format except that the last act becomes an exercise in intensifying the denouement further – what I would in basic terms call the ‘chase scene’ or the final ‘shoot-out’ at the end of your story.

Think in terms of The Firm where, although the main story questions are resolved about three quarters of the way through the plot (the law firm is exposed, some of the bad guys are dead and the mafia is implicated), there then follows the last quarter of the story where the hero (our Tom) devises his own final showdown with the mob to reclaim some of the blood money and restore the legal status quo.

In many modern thrillers the ubiquitous ‘chase scene’ is turned into a long ‘set piece’ whereby all kinds of obstacles to the final confrontation have to be overcome.

Like a roller-coaster ride, action and events and problems come thick and fast as the protagonist closes in on his or her prey.

Then, the ‘fight scene’ becomes another set piece that can last anything up to twenty pages of grueling weaving and dodging, and eventual success.

After all, the antagonist has to be hard to stop or kill, right?

Otherwise there’s little satisfaction for the reader - and the hero’s agenda is too easily resolved.

There’s a screenwriting software called Contour that has these 4th act ‘switches’ built into its story writing template.

Just as the hero believes he has won - ‘oh no!’ - something bad happens.

He overcomes that then - ‘oh no!’ something even worse happens.

Then the hero finally triumphs.

It may seem formulaic but the fact is, readers like this kind of thing.

And you’d be a fool not to include these elements into your denouement.

For one thing, it’s a great chance to show off your skills as a writer!   

The 4th act may also be seen as an extension of an epilogue.

You know the scene… where the surviving characters have to discuss resolutions to unfinished plot elements (the all too familiar ‘yeah, but what I don’t understand is…’!).

Instead of doing that, your 4th act story should do it for you – with action.

Ideally, all the unresolved issues become part of the excitement of the 4th act.

This means you won’t have to do an artificial ‘wrap up’ and you can end on a high note - the death of the antagonist for instance.

For example, you might have a story where a psycho kills someone and steals a million dollar ransom.

The story would appear to end when the hero finds the killer, shoots him and saves the day.

In the 3-act story it would end there.

But in the modern thriller, the story continues from this point on.

Perhaps the killer manages to escape, the hero gives chase, is almost killed once or twice himself, but he tracks down the money and then, after a battle of wits and muscle, the killer is finally, finally, finally killed!

I’m sure you’re familiar enough with the genre by now to get the idea.

Now.

There are also two basic rules you should know about heroes and baddies before you start writing.

They’re very important because they not only dictate the way you tell your story (and see it in your mind's eye) but also how you drop certain facts and clues into the text as you go along.

Here is the first rule:

1. The hero must possess all of the attributes necessary to overcome his obstacles (including defeating his foes).

This means you MUST tell the reader at some stage near the beginning of your story that he has these talents and qualities.

For instance, if your hero needs to hold his breath under water for several minutes to escape some peril – the reader must be aware he is capable of this feat.

You need only mention once, in passing, that the hero was an Olympic swimmer – but that’s enough.

It doesn’t matter that the reader might miss it or forget until you mention it again: at least it was there - the seed was sown. This

is called ‘foreshadowing’ and is a fiction convention - actually think of it more as a requirement.

What you cannot do if have your hero suddenly attaining new powers as he (or she) gets into sticky situations.

Pulling rabbits out of the hat is not allowed in good genre fiction – it’s called cheating!

Which leads us on to the other rule:

2. The bad guys must have the seeds of their own downfall planted in the text well before they are defeated.

For instance, if your bad guy is so out of it on drink and drugs he falls out of a window to his timely death, the reader must already know he has a drink/drugs problem.

This may sound obvious – but that’s mainly because the examples I’m using are designed to be!

In your own story, you can be a lot more subtle and inventive about leaving these kinds of clues throughout your text.

Smart thriller readers look out for these 'clues' because they usually dictate where the story is going.

(Many readers try to second guess the thriller author - it's all part of the fun for them!)

Once you’re aware of this literary trick of foreshadowing (which you should be), then you can start to have fun deliberately placing false clues in your story.

For instance, every time you introduce a new hero’s trait, make it intriguing.

Make those smart readers ask, ‘What is he going to need that for?’

Similarly, do the same for all of your characters.

Give them traits, interests and agendas that imply 'significance'.

Of course, they don’t all have to be significant to your story – the ones that aren’t generally get to be called ‘red herrings’, but it’s important to lay these false clues along the way to confuse your reader’s expectations – otherwise they’ll be way ahead of you and most likely get bored with your story.

This is basically the rule on how to make modern story plots work:

Deliberately set out to confound your reader’s expectations.

Keep your reader guessing – and if at all possible, guessing wrong!

Literary critics usually regard this as a thriller writer’s greatest talent - to be able to mislead the reader and thereby surprise them with each new twist and turn.

Readers too, in the end, will love you for it!

After this lesson you should have everything you need to construct a very good thriller template.

Don’t worry if it doesn’t appear to be very thrilling or professional looking the first time round.

Templates get easier to construct the more times you do them.

The important thing to remember is that, even though you’re doing this exercise for yourself, it’s a good to write the template as if you’re going to be showing it to people.

Write it as though it’s got to be understood by a completely objective outsider.

The bestselling English thriller writer, Ken Follett, does this - and then shows his template to anyone and everyone who will read it.

Family members, the mailman, delivery guys - literally anyone.

And he listens to all their criticisms.

He believes that if people don’t instantly get what he means in the template, he will have to work harder to make it understood.

Ken will keep redrafting the template until everyone understands the story - and is thrilled by it!

If you take nothing more from this course, I want you to recognize just this one point:

Planning everything up front – before you start writing proper - is the surest way to help you create your next novel fast and well.

And for the career writer, it’s a knack that’s more than worth developing.

This lesson we’re looking at ways of giving your thriller ‘legs’.

Little things you can do that will not only make your work more salable, but also give you some career longevity in this very competitive market.

How to Create Series Ideas

Deliberately plant little sub plots - resolve some and leave maybe one or two apparently unresolved, for later development in future stories.

Have the secondary characters give out little clues about their lives that may need resolution at some later stage.

Create minor characters with agendas of their own.

Think about how you might some day interconnect their lives with the main characters. 

Keep notes about these people in a file, expanding on your fictional world from the minor characters up.

Give them a place and a function in your world that your main characters can keep returning to - like doctors or journalists or clairvoyants.

Or as in Lehane’s novels - seedy lowlife characters that turn out to be useful later on in the series.

BE FLEXIBLE

Build in a certain amount of slack to your stories.

Real life is rarely perfect – let that be part of your philosophy when it comes to writing thriller fiction.

Allow real world influences, dilemmas and events dictate new fictional situations.

Give your characters the ability to interact with these influences.

Practice asking ‘what if?’ on all of your characters and plots - even after you’ve finished writing the story and it’s published.

Think through unresolved story threads - or character foibles - and see how far you can push them into usable story-lines.

Don’t be afraid of getting lost in your world.

You’re just experimenting with its potential.

CREATE DEPTH

In order to make your heroes interesting, give them a little depth after the fact, by which I mean more complex character traits, histories and motivations on top of the one’s necessary for the first story.

If you’re eagle eyed about other writer’s thrillers you’ll see this in action.

For example for the second book, there might be some dark secret the hero has never revealed to someone before.

Or a long lost relative will appear.

Or an old flame.

James Patterson is good at doing this with his character, Alex Cross.

Whole new portions of his back-story appear that the reader was unaware of.

Ex girlfriends, friends from his youth, events from his childhood are re-imagined to give the subsequent stories a basis for more adventure and intrigue.

Plus of course the killers he puts in jail keep getting out and trying to kill his family - or they get other killers to do it for them!

If you want to continue a thriller series long term, perhaps deliberately place unanswered questions in your reader’s mind in one book to be answered in the next.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR TRANSPOSITION

Imagine your characters in different geographical locations.

Would they be out of place?

Uncomfortable?

Don’t be afraid to experiment, if only in your imagination.

Place your characters in Iceland or France or on the Moon, on an oil rig or in a submarine.

It’s often interesting to develop your characters where their traits are tested or shown in relief against unlikely backdrops.

Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs do this particularly well.

They use their hometowns as a base but are not afraid to take on other locations – holiday destinations or whatever.

BELIEVE IN YOUR WORLD

Make friends with your fictional world.

Think of it terms of it being real and populated with real people.

Have a separate file where you describe your world.

Describe its class structure, its corporate ladders, its politics and the interests of the people there.

What do they do?

What do they think about?

Asking these questions, and writing down the answers, will create a sense of permanence to your world.

Sue Grafton’s world becomes increasingly sophisticated over the course of her Alphabet novels.

Minor characters move from one job to another, get married, have children, take different career paths, get sick and die.

It makes her world seem all the more real.

As I’m sure it was to Sue Grafton.

Unresolved ONGOING ISSUES

In your first novel touch on subjects that you feel might deserve another book.

Set up compelling scenarios – put in ‘teasers’ about ideas you might develop in the future.

The astute reader will pick up on some of these things and will want them explored at some later point in your series.

I know a best selling writer that does this all the time.

He’ll talk endlessly about it.

He’s convinced it creates loyalty in his fans!

I gave my own hero, Matt, a father who was in prison.

He got out in book one and vowed to prove his innocence during book two.

Matt’s wife kicks him out in book one and remarries in book two.

In book three I plan to have Matt leave the police force and go solo.

TIME-LINES

Create a history time line for your characters and their stories.

It doesn’t matter if, in your first book, everything happens in a certain week in Chicago or whether your story spans one hundred years.

Try writing a simple ‘time-line’, including dates (even if it’s the ‘present day’), locations, character types, key events, any environmental factors and some basic premises.

Think of it as a set of guidelines for future writers or contributors to your original scenario.

This is a bit like they do with TV series.

The original writer will create what called a “bible” that defines the characters, the relationships between them, the world of the story and any ‘rules’ that are pertinent to plot lines that might play out.

Creating your own bible for your thriller world will not only help you focus on your own stories but may provide a valuable tool when you’re ready to go out and promote your work.

It will give you something to talk about!

And for fans and critics alike, it makes everyone’s job easier (and more lucrative for you) if you can make your concepts quickly understood.

CH-CH-CHANGES

Let your characters grow.

Let them move on from relationships and/or change with the times.

Have them evolving, where their attitudes are tested, forcing them to re-evaluate themselves.

This is the way of the real world.

Nobody stays static forever and nothing that works for a time will work forever.

Make sure your characters can learn from their experiences, and are able to respond to current issues or changes in social mores and attitudes.

For this reason, you should always endeavor to keep pace with the modern world and be willing to absorb new information.

Because actually, nothing dates a thriller writer more than an author’s refusal to move in step with the world around them.

It will also restrict you audience if your characters don’t use mobiles or the internet for instance.

(Even though in real life some people refuse to move with the times.)

They’ll see your work as old fashioned - at best and at worst, irrelevant.

WRITE FROM THE HEART

Learn to be honest with yourself.

Strive to be a better, more rational, person.

Publishers often complain that the vast majority of novel writers seem to lack one basic component – and that is sanity!

I think this may only be half a joke but - if you’ve ever had to read more than half a dozen manuscripts, you’d be forgiven for thinking that many writers are completely crazy!

Especially the ones who don’t bother to learn the very basic rules of writing before they launch into a 100,000 words manuscript.

It can be very disconcerting to read a novel length manuscript that is full to the brim with horrendous spelling, grammar and punctuation errors.

It just makes you wonder what on earth the would-be writer was thinking.

As I heard a publisher say recently: too many submissions come from people who think they are storytellers before they are writers.

You need to be a writer first.

Learn the rules, take the courses, do the homework, practice, practice, practice, and only then think about submitting for publication.

The good news is it’s the writers that appear to have greater discipline and clarity of thought - and actually care about the basics - that stand out, miles above the competition.

Cultivate a sense of objectivity, maturity, even wisdom, and use it in your writing.

ever think that being quirky or deliberately ‘clever clever’ will get you noticed.

It may – but for all the wrong reasons!

The best and most successful thriller authors are the ones that learn how to write correctly and then simply tell stories – and that’s about all.

Dealing with more challenging issues is fine for the long-term professional or the literary minded.

However, the first time thriller writer is generally judged on story - how well written it is first.

THEN on how thrilling it is, how believable it all seems and how much potential it has for exploitation!

The important thing is to see your work and yourself as a writer in the context of the modern world.

You need to accept there’s a lot of competition out there and that you need to write for the market - which this course is designed to help you with.

Writing for yourself is one thing.

A good thing, don’t get me wrong.

But if you want to be a bestselling author with a publisher or on Amazon as an independent, the only sure fire way of achieving success is to write what people want to read.

And what people want is genre thrillers.

And by genre we mean books that follow the accepted conventions of the day - which I have laid bare to you during this course.

It’s common wisdom nowadays that pretty much anyone can come up with ideas.

They’re literally ten a penny – but ideas are not enough.

You can’t copyright an idea for a start.

You can only copyright the expression of that idea - which in this case means the book you want to write.

And if you want to write a good thriller, you have to study the conventions and the basics of good writing - and then, when you’re ready, go for it!

Being a good writer is about commitment.

It’s those of us that have the courage to hold on to a vision, to see things through and keep on pushing that make it in the end.

But it’s also about staying positive and enthusiastic about writing itself - and wanting to write full time more than anything else in the world.

And if you’re like that - you can count me as a friend!

So please, keep in touch and let me know how you go.

Keep Writing!

Rob Parnell

The Writing Academy on Udemy