Charlie Donlea's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing"

I am well aware of the entertainment venues that compete with novels. Although an avid reader, I, too, am a lover of music and movies, of television and sports.

I'm a sucker for watching acoustic covers on YouTube. If you've seen one Zac Brown video, you know you'll need to see them all. I've binge-watched entire television series—headphones on, iPad to nose and lights off in the middle of the night. Breaking Bad and Sons of Anarchy caused me more lost sleep than any writing deadline. Sunday afternoons are spent watching football. And my family has a standing date each week called Friday Night Movie Night.

So I understand Summit Lake is up against steep competition—and this doesn't take into account the vast number of other novels written by authors whose talents far surpass my own.

But when I set out to write my story, I wanted to give it a chance. I wanted it to possess the ammunition needed to fight off the competition. So I took inventory and pinpointed what, exactly, makes me pick up a book rather than reach for the remote or log onto the computer.

And the answer is this: The book has to call me back to it.

If a story makes me think about it after I've put it down, if it makes me wonder what will happen next, if it makes me ponder where the characters are going and what is in store for them—then, when I'm free and able to spend leisure time on entertainment, hands down I'm reaching for that book before anything else.

I've been fortunate to hear from readers around the country and across the ocean who have told me Summit Lake does exactly that. I've enjoyed hearing that readers couldn't wait to get back to the story. "Couldn't put it down" is a cliché. We all have lives and work and responsibilities that force us to put books down. But when I hear that readers couldn't wait to get back to the book, I know I've succeeded. When they couldn't wait to return to the characters they are getting to know, the setting they are starting to visualize, the story that's subtly poking their curiosity, and the mystery they think they've got solved but need just another few pages to be sure—well, then the book has a fighting chance against the competition.

So try it. Pick it up and get into the story. Then, put it down and get on with your life. If the characters or the setting or the mystery calls you back to it, then turn off the television for a night, stow the tablet at bedtime, and read a good book.

And if you're able to figure out the twist in Summit Lake , let me know by dropping me a line. I'd love to hear from you.

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Summit Lake

If you’re an avid reader, you’ve come across that book.

That magical book that touched you and moved you. The one you didn’t want to put down. The one you stayed up too late reading. The one you couldn’t wait to get back to, couldn’t stop thinking about, and were sad to finish.

If you love to read, at least one book has already come to mind. Maybe more. But the truth about reading is that this type of book doesn’t come around often. It certainly doesn’t describe every book we pick up. Still, those magical books fill us with hope that another is around the corner. And that hope is what keeps us reading the good books as we hunt for the great ones.

I remember the first book that captivated me in this way. The one that transported me away from my real world and firmly planted me elsewhere. It was John Grisham’s legal thriller The Firm. Decades after it was originally published, I still consider it one of the best suspense novels I’ve come across. I’ve read it multiple times simply for entertainment. And now, as an author, I read it to remind myself how to write good suspense. I read Pat Conroy’s The Lords of Discipline and Thomas Harris’s The Silence of the Lambs for the same reason.

To me, each represents that book. They have a special place in my heart, not just because they are books I love, but because they saved my career. They may have caused it.

The road to publication can be rocky and long. My journey to get my debut novel, Summit Lake, into bookstores was a decade long battle fraught with rejection. It was my fourth attempt at writing a book. My first manuscript generated more than one hundred rejection letters. My second was worthy enough to land me an agent, but still produced scores of rejections from New York publishers. On my agent’s urgings, I wrote a third manuscript, and when that story met with the same fate as all my previous works—four hundred pages of plot, more than a year of my life, and a stack of rejection letters—I decided I’d had enough. I concluded that the publishing industry was too difficult to break into, and my talents too meager to compete.

So, I stopped writing. A solid few weeks went by. I hadn’t quite told my agent that I’d given up, but she knew how disappointed I was by the last round of rejections. During that low point, I found time for self-reflection and discovered something was missing in my life. After I stopped writing, an odd feeling of loss filled me up inside. It took a little time to figured out that void was present because I was no longer chasing my dream.

After weeks of sulking, I got back to the computer and started another story. It would be my fourth manuscript. This time, I did not dive blindly into the story. Before I started, I asked myself why I wanted to write it. I attempted to define my dream, and figure out what, exactly, I was trying to accomplish. My answer came when I reflected on why I love to read. My epiphany arrived when I thought back to John Grisham and Pat Conroy and Thomas Harris, and the novels that moved me and touched me. I realized then I was writing because I wanted to create that book. I wanted to write a novel that people couldn’t put down, the one they couldn’t wait to get back to, the one they couldn’t stop thinking about. I wanted to write a book the reader would be sad to finish.

With all these intentions clear in my mind, I penned the story of a murdered law school student, the investigative reporter assigned to her case, and the chilling connection that forms between victim and investigator as secrets emerge in the small mountain town where the killing took place. I placed this town in the Blue Ridge Mountains and named it Summit Lake. Then, my agent and I shipped the manuscript off to New York.

In a few weeks, we had an offer for a two-book deal. Summit Lake sold at auction in Germany, as well as Poland and Brazil. Brilliance purchased the audio rights, and Reader’s Digest bought the condensation rights to include in their May publication of Select Editions alongside Amy Sue Nathan and Lee Child.

Today, I am moved every time I hear from a reader who tells me Summit Lake is the book they couldn’t put down. The one they couldn’t wait to get back to. The one they couldn’t stop thinking about and the one they were sad to finish.

Will it be that book for everyone? Surely not. But this writer is proud to hear that it has been for some, and grateful for those who have let me know.

Charlie Donlea
May 2016

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(This post originally appeared on the blog The Suspense is Thrilling Me)

Charlie Donlea on Writing the Fictional, Literary Answer to True Crime Docu-Dramas with BookTrib

Over the past few years, podcasts and television shows like Serial and Netflix’s Making A Murderer have taken over the country, if not the world. Thousands of people tune in every day to find out what happened next in these real-life cases where the question of did they or didn’t they pervades throughout the entire trial and beyond.



Now, in a thriller unlike any other out there, Charlie Donlea has provided us with the book we didn’t even know we could have.

Don't Believe It is basically the literary answer to those true crime dramas: Sidney Ryan is a filmmaker, whose ongoing docu-drama The Girl of Sugar Beach has taken over the country. Ten years previous in St. Lucia, Grace Sebold was arrested and convicted for the murder of her boyfriend Julian while on Spring Break vacation. But for Sidney, all she wants to know is whether Grace really is a cold-blooded murderer, or just the victim of bad police work, and a sloppy investigation. Each week, people sit down to watch the next episode in the series, which Sidney is putting together as her investigation is going on, giving her audience an almost real-time look into her investigation. But as the investigation moves to a close and the series goes into its final episodes, Sidney receives a letter saying that she’s got it all wrong… really wrong.

BookTrib got to talk with Charlie Donlea about our mutual love of true crime podcasts, the key to writing a good thriller, and what it was like trying to write a real-time investigation and television show at the same time.


BookTrib: This book is a very different take on the amateur sleuth/investigative journalist genre, as the investigator is actually a TV producer making a crime docu-series. What was it like writing in this format? Did you run into any difficulties with planning?

Charlie: Because I love True Crime documentaries, I had a great time creating the protagonist in Don’t Believe It.

But, yes, I ran into many snags as I was writing! In the book, Sidney Ryan is an up and coming filmmaker who signs on to create a real-time television documentary (Serial-style) about a grisly, decade-old murder that took place in the Caribbean. The difficulties I ran into with plotting the novel were the same difficulties Sidney ran into creating the series, specifically with the timing. I knew what was going to happen, who the killer was, what they used as the murder weapon, etc. Sidney was trying to figure it all out, and she was chronicling her discoveries week to week in each new episode of her serialized documentary. Trying to pace the discoveries correctly to keep Sidney (and the reader) hooked, was a challenge. But when everything fell into place, it was beautiful!

BookTrib How did you first get the idea to write this book?

Charlie:I’ve become a cultish fan of True Crime series like Serial, Making A Murderer, and S-Town.

I love the “did-he-or-didn’t-he” themes that run through these documentaries. After watching enough of these stories, I came up with the idea of a haunting murder on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, a medical student accused of the crime, and the documentary filmmaker looking for answers ten years later.

The documentary series she produces, which plays out week-to-week, captures the attention of the country the way Serial did. Millions tune in each week to see what new evidence our protagonist has discovered and whether it will point to the accused is guilty or innocent. A lot of twists and startling revelations each week keep the audience hooked, and a shocking ending should have readers flipping back through the pages to see how they missed it.

BookTrib: What books would you say really inspired you as a writer?

Charlie:I never read books as a child, and never had any aspirations to write. I actually made it through my entire academic career without reading an assigned novel (lots of Cliff’s Notes).

It wasn’t until college when I read John Grisham’s The Firm, which immediately hooked me and caused me to skip classes while I raced through the story, that the idea of writing my own novel planted itself in my mind. For a guy like me—with no creative writing experience and no life-ling love for reading—who thought that maybe I could write a book someday, John Grisham provided a lot of inspiration. He, too, never dreamed of writing, had no formal training, and only accidentally decided to write his first novel after witnessing a harrowing story in the courtroom.

The writing community is saturated with woe-is-me stories about how hard it is to break in, how difficult it is to earn out, and what a battle it is to find an audience. Everything about those stories is true, but I always tell aspiring writers not to listen to those stories. Don’t read about them. Don’t pay attention to them. Don’t dwell on them. Instead, pick a successful author whose career you admire, and learn everything you can about their story. For me, that author is John Grisham. He never dreamed of writing, and once stood in a bookstore staring at the packed shelves wondering how his stories would ever get noticed. Since that day in the bookstore, his books have sold hundreds of millions of copies.

Booktrib: Instead of spending the book trying to prove that someone committed a crime, Sidney Ryan spends the book trying to prove that someone didn’t commit the crime they’ve been in prison for. As an author who has written several thriller novels, what was it like changing up this narrative?

Charlie: It’s always fun to find a way to put a unique spin on your story.

This structure was especially exciting because the cards are so badly stacked against Sidney. Just like an actual true crime documentary, every single finding seems to point to the accused guilt, and it is up to Sidney to figure out the truth. The problem, of course, comes when the truth she finds isn’t exactly what she was expecting.

BookTrib: Not only is Sidney Ryan, the protagonist of the book, one of the greatest characters ever created, but so is Grace Sebold. How do you find your characters? Do you base them off of anyone?

Charlie" CD: Sidney and Grace make this story.

They are, in different ways, the heart and soul of Don’t Believe It. Sidney is a tenacious filmmaker looking for answers. She’s the antithesis of a damsel in distress. Quite frankly, she gets sh*% done and doesn’t allow anything or anyone to get in her way, including network suits who have a different vision of her documentary that she has. Grace, who is the focus of the series, was once a promising fourth-year medical student with her whole life in front of her. Now, she’s reduced to a woman approaching middle age whose only hope for freedom rests on Sidney’s ability to find new evidence that will exonerate her. Grace’s character is shrouded in mystery—dare I use the now-cliché term “unreliable narrator”?

Sidney and Grace are very different from one another but have just enough in common to link them to a common goal of winning Grace’s freedom. Both women will do anything to this end, which becomes one of many problems as the documentary gets further along in production.

BookTrib: This is one of the most gripping books I’ve read in a long time – what do you think the secret is to writing this kind of realistic, impossible-to-put-down thriller?

Charlie: CD: The secret to a great thriller is building anticipation.

A great opening hook is important, and an explosive, the surprise ending is key. But to keep readers engaged through the middle and stop them from putting the book down, you need to make them anticipate what might happen next.

If a reader is constantly guessing what will happen in the next chapter, predicting where the story might go, and wondering about the fate of the characters, then when they put the book down to attend to life, the story will continue to run in their mind. If a reader thinks about the book all day, then they’ll anxiously pick it up again as soon as they get home. And there’s nothing better than a book you can’t wait to get back to.

I’m very proud that so many readers have told me they couldn’t put Don’t Believe It down. And when they had to, they couldn’t wait to pick it up again!

BookTrib: You end this book on a huge cliffhanger! Do you have plans to continue this as a series, or are you happy with leaving us all in suspense?

Charlie: I love leaving you all in suspense! I also love causing you to throw the book across the room after you turn the last page! In a good way, of course

Every time I publish a novel, I hear from readers who ask the same question: Will this story continue? Will we see these characters again? Is this the beginning of a series?

I love that readers connect with my characters enough to want to see their stories continued. It means, on some level, I’ve done my job well.

But my answer to whether a storyline will continue, or if a character will show up again in a future book, has always been that we’ll all (myself included) have to wait and see. I write one story at a time. When I’m done, I take a nice long break and then start thinking of a new one. I’m sure one of these days a character from a previous book will start yelling at me from the shadowed corners of my mind, I’ll listen, and they’ll tell me about a new grand adventure they want to go on. When that happens, I’ll bring them back in another novel. So far, none of my characters have yelled loudly enough for me to hear… the gang from Don’t Believe It included.

DON'T BELIEVE IT is now available for purchase.


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—Charlie Donlea

Slow Reveals, Twists and Turns, and Other Tricks of the Trade" for CRIMEREADS

June 3, 2019

CHARLIE DONLEA

At the heart of every great thriller is an unforgettable climax. This pinnacle moment in a thriller is what defines the genre. It’s where the action takes place, where the reveal is laid bare, and where the twist is sprung on us. But there is an art to creating the climax. If it’s dumped too abruptly upon the reader, even if it checks all the right boxes, it can be a let down—like waking up to discover it’s Christmas morning without having enjoyed the holiday season that preceded it. Sure, it’s fun to open the presents, but without the lead up to the big day, something’s missing. Before the best reveals, in front of the most stunning twists, and ahead of the greatest unveilings of a killer’s identity, is a staircase. Climbing it is where the real fun happens, because it is with each successive step up this staircase where readers find the suspense in a thriller.

When I wrote the draft of my debut novel, I began with a brutal murder in the first chapter, then jumped back a year in the next. Through the rest of the book, I followed the victim through her life leading up to its violent end, dropping clues along the way as to who killed her and why. Then in one quick chapter at the end, I revealed everything in a few quick pages—what she was hiding, who killed her, the twist, the shock, the reveal, the getaway and the aftermath. I confidently turned my novel over to my editor and awaited his notes.

My editor’s comment: “You turned the staircase into a stoop.”

I went back to work. Under my editor’s watchful eye, I revised the novel so the big reveal unfolds over a few well-paced chapters that create an elaborate staircase to catapult the reader into the final, climactic scene. And with each subsequent novel I’ve written, my editor has continued to remind me that with thrillers, just like life, it’s about the journey, not the destination.

Here are ten thrillers that produce chest-tightening suspense by leading us up some impressive staircases.

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