5 Things I Learned About Writing Reading Suspense-Thrillers

I went through my thriller phase, both reading them and writing them. I couldn’t get enough. Tess Gerritson, Tami Hoag, Thomas Harris, Ruth Ware, Gillian Flynn, Paula Hawkins.  A good thriller is able to draw you in and keep your attention all while developing a story that’s paced like a rollercoaster and has the conclusion of a fireworks show. They are…well, thrilling.

So I took to writing them, hence The Letters She Left Behind (and another book still hidden away in the drawer).

Here are five things I think successful thriller writers offer to teach any category of writer.

A Well Developed Villain

Look, a great protagonist needs a great antagonist, and those one dimensional villains just don’t work, especially if you want to invest the reader. As a widely read person, if I’m not invested, I’m not finishing the book and will drop it without ceremony into my DNF pile. Investing time in developing the protagonist is key, but the same holds true for the antagonist as well. A really great thriller demonstrates this development either making the villain’s motives believable or making them so sympathetic, the twist at the end is a gut punch.

Check the Pace

The flow of a story can make or break it. This pacing from one event to the next in a thriller is paramount. The economy a thriller writer employs in making sure every word, every scene counts is critical, especially when the writer is crafting a whodunit. Every word, each scene matters in the overall story, and driving the reader through the prose is critical. Places that lag, spots that sag aren’t acceptable in this genre because there isn’t time. While a literary slice-of-life story might be a slow burn, the necessity of moving the reader through the story still exists. Thriller writers do the page turner so well.

Don’t Fall into Plot Holes

Thrillers readers, especially, are freaking smart. They are voracious in their ingestion of the mystery and suspense story. Like romance readers, they are always on the lookout for their next read. They know what to look for, are able to spot those red herrings, and ultimately they are working overtime to make those guesses. Because they are so well read in the category, they are also connoisseurs of technique. They can spot the plot holes, guess the plot twists, identify the culprit within the first three chapters, which makes writing this category (and doing it well) challenging. But Thriller writers write a very tight plot for this very reason. This is a great skill to have in any category.  

Setting that Mood

From the first page, a thriller-suspense-mystery writer sets the mood and they don’t start with “..it was a dark and stormy night…” Just like pacing, tone is critical to this category.  The tone, in many ways, informs that pace, and that informs the tone. Funny how that chicken or the egg thing works right. But they do go hand in hand. The clarity with which a thriller author develops that mood throughout, upping the stakes, creating tension, and building suspense is magical when done well. I think the same holds true across any category you’re writing. Tone is very critical to the overall sense of your story.

Bringing It All Together

Finally (though not a complete list to be sure), thriller writers have to stick the ending. I mean, all authors do, but in terms of writing lessons, thriller writers have to be the gold medal Olympic Figure Skaters doing that triple axel to perfection. With the stakes raised, the tension hitting hard, those smart readers need that payoff, and if better be good if you want them back. This holds true for any category, but I think there are things to be learned from successful thriller writers.

There isn’t a formula for writing your book. Well, there sort of is (check out Brody’s Save the Cat Writes a Novel), but the point is that your book and learning how to develop these tools come with time (and a lot of reading). Go get to it!

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