Introducing My New Writing Project: A Psycho Thriller

My head has really opened up since I gave up tobacco, started vaping, and cut out the caffeine and diet cokes that dominated my life. My doc has cut my psych meds in half and my creativity is just where I need it to be.  My writing has taken off and I’m having fun with it. The rocket scientist has to write me notes telling me to come to bed at four or five in the morning.

I’ve posted a bit in comments about this project, but not much on my blog. There’s something about putting it up on my blog that increases the pressure to perform and I want to take this slow and do it right. But, I’m so excited; I just have to share a little. It’s a psycho thriller/suspense novel.

I wrote a couple of sentences…not really a log-line, but a sentence explaining the conflict:

“Jillian wants to be free from the torment of her nightmares, but she may have to give up someone important to her to get there.”

Let me tell you about Jillian. She’s an adult, but for a year in her childhood she suffered clairvoyant nightmares. Now divorced, with an eighteen year old son and a twelve year old daughter, a love interest has come out of her past, a dog goes missing, and the nightmares have started again.

Her first nightmare is a repeat of the first one she experienced as a child, and she sees through the eyes of the victim.

In the subsequent nightmares, she is seeing through the eyes of a killer. Right now, he’s only an enigma, but quickly becomes all too real.

There is a G.B.I. Liaison, a therapist, and a psychic medium/paranormal psychologist involved in the story. The Liaison and the psychic medium have their own thing going on.

I am writing the nightmares in first person. This is a new experience for me. I thought it would be challenging, but it’s so much fun. I can get deeply inside the head of my serial killer and examine motives. I like the first person parts better than the third person parts, but it’s all good.

I don’t have a working title for this novel yet. I’m open to suggestions. It takes place in and around Atlanta, Georgia. Places I know well. It needed a big, spread-out metro area.

I’m an avid reader of the psycho thriller, where my husband reads mostly regional Florida crime fiction/adventure. My last novel was written on a challenge by him, but this is my baby. I’m letting him read and advise me on some parts, but for the most, it’s up to me. My writing style is more like my original style and it’s working well. But the chapters are short 1200-1400 words.

One of my most favorite authors of all times in Thomas Harris of Hannibal. I also read some true crime. Having worked seven years in psychiatry, with a few in forensics, has really helped in developing my characters.

I’m following a solid, well-established story structure for my outline in Scrivener. It has helped me keep the pace fast and steady.

I wonder if being inside of a serial killer’s head while he performs his nasty deeds will be off-putting to readers. It certainly heightens the suspense and intrigue…at least for me.

Filed under: Writing Process/WIPs Tagged: clearing my head, crime fiction, inside a serial killer's head, introduction to WIP, psycho thriller, working tiitle, writing in first person