How to Write a Damn Good Thriller: A Step-by-Step Guide for Novelists and Screenwriters

by James N. Frey

A quick look at any fiction bestseller list reveals that thrillers make up most of the titles at the top. HOW TO WRITE A DAMN GOOD THRILLER will help the aspiring novelist or screenwriter to design, draft, write, and polish a thriller that is sure to grab readers. Frey uses examples from both books and movies and addresses the following hot
*Germinal ideas
*Breathing life into great thriller characters
*Crafting a gripping opening
*Maintaining tension
*Creating obstacles and conflicts
*Writing a mean, lean thriller scene
*Adding surprise twists
*Building a smashing climax
and many more.
In his trademark approachable and humorous style, Frey illuminates the building blocks of great thrillers and gives the reader the tools to write his or her own.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, How To, Research, Crafts, Mystery

306 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

James N. Frey is an American novelist and acclaimed writing teacher, best known for his influential guide How to Write a Damn Good Novel. He has authored both fiction and non-fiction, including thrillers and several popular books on writing craft. Frey taught at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was honored as Teacher of the Year in 1994. He continues to lecture on creative writing at various conferences and institutions. His fiction has earned critical recognition, including an Edgar Award nomination. Frey lives in Berkeley, California.

Reviews

[Alexa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thanks, I hated it! With all due respect, WTF. HOW is this the ONLY trad pubbed book on writing a thriller that I could find? I'm not even sure Frey knows what a thriller is? His definition and 95% of his examples certainly didn't match mine. How I got through this entire book and Agatha Christie was not mentioned even ONCE? HOW.

First I skimmed, then I entirely skipped allllll of the samples of Frey's own ideas/writing, which amounted to approximately HALF the book. Half! His ideas weren't good, were full of problematic characters and ideas, and few were properly thrillers, either. But mostly I just think inventing your own half-baked book ideas is a terrible way to demonstrate writing craft/principles. I was expecting analysis of popular thrillers but nooooo. Unless you're REALLY into The Day of the Jackal, you're SOL. Yes, most of the examples are movies your grandfather is really into.

I've written a thriller so I was curious what he would say, and beyond a few universal craft/salient points, most of the book just isn't useful to an aspiring writer who is new to the genre. It doesn't go over common thriller beats (but does say you MUST write a treatment/outline ahead of time without providing any guidance on how to!), or tell you much beyond "you must have a hero, villain, and some menace." And that's the thing: half the time he's talking about epic adventure fiction, not thrillers!

Also lol at "all thrillers are written in either first person past or third person past." Way to date yourself/demonstrate you haven't read a modern thriller, book.

If you're seeking guidance on how to craft a thriller in the year 2020 (or beyond), DO NOT WASTE MONEY ON THIS BOOK. Lord, just watch my YouTube channel. (And if you want to see me rant about this book, check out Laura Writes' channel on Sunday June 14 at noon PT)

This book:

[Kelly (Maybedog) · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was terrible, so far the worst book on writing that I've read. I have tons of notes but I'm too irritated right now to write a full review. Suffice to say that when he gave this example, I lost all respect for the book as a useful tool:

He gave an example of his writing where in the middle, without any warning or any text separation or section change, he jumped heads from one POV to another. He pointed out how he did this and how useful it was. This is a BIG no-no and should never be used by any but the most amazing award-winning writer who can make it work. Multiple series that I've read started out doing this and as the writer gained in skill as the series went on, this was reduced and then eliminated. (See for example Cut & Run. The book was well-loved but the biggest complaint was the head jumping.)

One other thing he said that really bothered me was that unless you're that amazing award-winning writer who can make it work you should never stray from the formula of a good thriller. Formulaic writing is boring and almost never gets more than a three star rating from me. I find it hard to believe that a formulaic novel is going to be considered "a Damn Good Thriller."

The last thing that bugged me is that so much of this was focused on screenwriting and the author treated them as being mostly the same. There is an enormous difference in writing those two completely different types of things which are almost as different as prose and poetry are.

Lest you think I changed my mind and wrote a full review, be assured that these are just the three things that bothered me the most. If I wrote all of my notes here, this review would be many times longer.

1.5 stars rounded down because it offended my sensibilities.

[Jacqui · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have studied a lot about writing, read umpteen books on it, but never specifically to my genre. When James Frey's book How to Write a D*** Good Thriller (St. Martin's Press 2010) came out, I grabbed it. What's the first thing I learned? I have been making a lot of mistakes. The next thing I learned was how to fix them. Thankfully, he promised that doing this was 'not brain surgery'.

In this book, Frey reviews first novel writing in general, then thriller in detail. The way thrillers are plotted (characters always in danger; one ends and another pops out of the scenery), their characters developed (moral, bigger-than-life but flawed), crises handled (each gets the main character into worse trouble) and the pace of action (constant, never take a breath) is why readers pick them. Compare those characteristics to literary fiction, where characters get time to smell the roses while they introspectively muse over life. If my WIP's characters consider the quirkiness of their existence, it better be while they're fleeing for their life.

I didn't know that when I started Frey's book, and that's just one of the 'rules' I missed when I set out to write thrillers. Here's another. Mysteries and thrillers are often confused,but consider this:

In a mystery, the hero has a mission to find a killer.

In a thriller, the hero has a mission to foil evil--and it must be an impossible mission.

That's a big difference.

There's also big difference in audience--people who choose thrillers rather than mysteries, literary fiction, biographies, etc. Thriller readers like their main characters to be heroes. They set out to save the world and succeed. Doing their best won't work. Not in a thriller. Main characters should also be moral, patriotic, believing in the goodness of mankind and tolerant of mistakes. That might sound like a stereotype, but your artistry as a writer will keep it fresh. Consider country-western music. It's always about dogs, trucks, mama and prison, but there are tens of thousands of songs beloved by millions of fans. How's that for artistry.

Frey covers the varieties of thrillers from political to the little-known comic. He tells us the importance of a villain to thrillers--so important, the author should consider them a new best friend. Know as much about the villain as you do the hero so both are believable, and when the reader is asked to accept that the villain might stop the hero, its a real concern. Frey discusses voice--I didn't know that 99% of thrillers are written either in first person past tense or third person past tense.

Luckily, my WIP falls into the latter so I don't have to start a complete rewrite.

Another issue he discusses is where to start the novel. That's more difficult than it sounds. Often, as I'm editing my mss, I find the more I cut at the beginning of a chapter, the better it reads. Thrillers have to be action-action-action. That stuff we-all include that isn't, must be cut. Every sentence must be action. Every paragraph. If it isn't, change it. The gist of a thriller is a well-motivated character overcoming increasingly difficult obstacles in pursuit of a worthy and impossible goal. When you 'hang your character out on the horns of a dilemma', you have the audience gripped. Where does that leave room for an involved discussion on the garden outside the house or the landlady's dog?

Not unexpectedly for a how-to book on writing, Frey discusses plot, characters, scenes, but always the unique characteristics that apply to thrillers. He does this by showing-not-telling, sharing excerpts from great thrillers and explaining how they work.

Spoiler alert: I'm going to share Frey's rules on making a D*** good climax. Check off with me whether yours accomplishes these goals:

In almost all d*** good thrillers, the hero is nearly killed in the climax but manages to kill or capture the villain and to foil his evil plot (check)
In the climax of a d*** good thriller, good prevails over evil (check)
The climax of a d*** good thriller is not just more of the same old stuff we've seen before. (ch-eck, I hope)
In the climax of a d*** good thriller, there are surprises (check)
Often in the climax, the hero discovers something about himself or gains insight into the human condition (Hmmm... Let me think about this)
Sometimes a hero experiences a loss at the climax (check)
Sometimes the hero dies in the climax (nope. I'm writing a serial)

If you didn't check off all of those, buy the book. Frey will tell you how to do it. As a bonus, he asks all thriller writers to take a pledge to writer their novel in the manner of a thriller. Check pg. 247. It's as much a how-to list as a pledge.

Overall, every thriller writer who's never read a book on their genre should buy this, read it, and keep it in their reference library. Remind yourself what must be in every chapter to make your story a credible nail-biting experience.

[Zu Reviews · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am sure James N. Frey is a wonderful writer and that perhaps even his other "how to write" novels are good, but this just completely and utterly missed the mark for me. Especially since he was very frequently telling me to "check out his other books for more on that". You could skip this and probably learn more about writing a thriller from his "How to write a damn good mystery".

In terms of concrete advice, it falls flat. The most exciting part to me - developing the germinal idea - did no such thing. It was like reading a list of ideas Frey thought was cool and having him just saying what he decided on. There was NO development really outlined. I've learned more from 10 minutes of Brandon Sanderson free on YouTube then from this book on literally everything he covers.

The stuff on villains was interesting, on how to develop them and the recommended exercise was perhaps the most beneficial aspect of this book. Frey seems to favour this high octane, no-mystery, head hopping adventure with a comically evil villain and there was no nuance to any of it. He kept saying "shake things up" but the advice was all very one-note. He would write an example and say "see how engaging that was?" And I'd be yawning through it. His advice is prescriptive with clear "do's" and "don'ts" that were based more on his personal taste than objective writing. This book is what Frey wants in a thriller, not how to develop and turn your thriller idea into a captivating read.

And look, I'm a plotter, but his blatant favouring of plotting was upsetting and it wasn't even good. When he gives you an outline of the "must have" moments in every thriller, it's basically this:

1. Start the story.
2. Progress story.
3. Get MC more invovled in the story(the rebirth???)
4. Build to the end
5. End.

Like... duh??? he then lists story examples and then doesn't even detail how they actually line up with his arbitrary beats. He just repeats the name of the beat and adds the character name or what have you. In Frey's defense though, I did agree with him that in a thriller you do not necessarily have to do everything at a % mark. If your first act is done befor the 30%, just keep going.

Frey also spends a lot of time on beginnings, but hardly addresses the middle or the end. His advice to avoid the "muddled middle" is to keep introducing conflict and never give your MC's a break. But conflict for conflicts sake...it gets old. Literally every situation he wants to be a fight. Every conversation and moment of dialogue, every minor character interaction.

If you want to read through one writers list of cool ideas, this is for you. If you want advice on writing a thriller specifically, I think you'll find better advice free online.

[Chris Bauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a ravenous reader of thrillers I've always been drawn to the genre. But had no idea how or even whether to try crafting such a novel.

James N. Frey provides comprehensive guidance on getting started. I'm a fan of his other works and this one is no exception. I was most impressed by the pragmatic advice and guidance in the pages. The differences between thriller and mystery are subtle yet tell-tale. Once that lightbulb went off over my head, it all fell into place.

Great advice, excellent methodology and good ole' fashioned "butt in chair, fingers on keyboard" guidance comes together in an easy to understand format.

[Audra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I took my time reading this one and took extensive notes since I have decided to write in the thriller genre. There were a lot of great tips on writing in this genre. The reason I gave this book three stars, however, is because I don't see a whole lot of thrillers written by him. The ones that he has written don't have very many reviews and don't have very high ratings. Nonetheless, I will be using all of the things I learned in this book in my writing.

[David Samuels · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to read this one because I found the handbook on mysteries useful. Unfortunately, this book seems to rehash the author's advice, only couching it in terms of a separate genre.

[Joey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just as I suspected... TRASH.

[V · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to stop reading because it was making my writing worse the more I read. I’m not sure who this is for. It’s not sophisticated in the least.

[Hari Seldon · Rating 3 out of 5]

It had good information and tips. Some parts were long and tedious and I skipped.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wer schon immer wissen wollte wie ein großartiger Thriller funktioniert ist mit "Wie man einen verdammt guten Thriller schreibt" bestens beraten. Trotz des sperrigen Titels vermag dieses Übersichtswerk tatsächlich eine Idee davon zu vermitteln, wie man das Projekt eines spannungsgeladenen Romans am Besten angeht - und das ist schließlich nicht nur für potenzielle Schriftsteller interessant, sondern für jeden der sich dafür interessiert WARUM Bestseller des Genres eigentlich Bestseller sind.

James N. Frey gelingt es, an Hand gut dokumentierter Beispiele, das Wesentliche aus den einzelnen Komponenten zu kitzeln, die kombiniert ein Buch ergeben, das man nicht mehr aus der Hand legen möchte. Auf der Gesamtlänge von knapp 300 Seiten entwickelt er nicht nur einen, sondern gleich mehrere Romane zumindest bis zu einem Punkt, an dem der Leser erkennen kann wie man sie ausgestalten könnte.

Man bekommt wirklich Lust diese Regeln selbst einmal auszuprobieren - oder zumindest alle Thriller, die man in letzter Zeit gelesen hat, auf genau die Merkmale zu überprüfen, die Frey für unumgänglich hält. Und sieheda: Es scheint zu klappen!

[Farquar McSpadden · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mostly a lazy effort from Frey, who has a good brand "How to Write a Damn Good [XYZ]." Little care is taken to give examples of actual, current-day thrillers. Far too much time is spent on his own dopey writing examples. I get it: Including original fiction avoids copyright issues. But the examples are so un-thriller-like, mundane, and jokey. I feel like Frey thought he could extrude another "Damn Good" book without paying much attention to the genre itself. Give it the one-evening's attention it deserves and be sure to check it out from your local library.

[ميرنا المهدي · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very informative and thrilling read.
Highly recommended to all aspiring and professional writers.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a follow-up, apparently, to Frey's How to Write a Damn Good Novel I but in many ways I found it to be a better written and more useful book. However maybe that's just because the book I am trying to draft out is intended to be a thriller. I think this book may be better written simply because Frey had the experience of writing How to Write a Damn Good Novel I & II versus first. I'm not sure if that's the case, but it feels that way. It seems that this book is more tightly written with less unnecessary verbiage. That having been said Frey does have a habit of rambling on. But then again all of Frey's books were originally written some time ago and that was more an accepted style in instructional/didactic books back in the 70s & 80, I think. Or maybe Frey just likes to hear himself talk, like Isaac Asimov or Henry Kissinger does. :-)
All of this having been said I would definitely say that this book is a must-read if you are trying to write thriller. In my opinion all of Frey's books especially How to Write a Damn Good Novel I , Are Must Reads If You Are Serious about Wanting to Write Fiction.
I have come to the conclusion though that it is not necessary read Frey's texts straight through unless of course you had no previous introduction to the basic techniques of fiction writing. Then yes read him straight through. But also in that case read Haley Ephron's The Everything Book about Writing Your First Novel, which is a better basic introduction. But even then definitely gone read James N Frey. Start with How to Write a Damn Good Novel I, then definitely move on to this if you are trying to write thrillers. Or if you're only interested in writing thrillers and no other type of fiction, then go directly to this.
For anyone, could probably be most of you, who has had a basic introduction fiction writing before this, as I was saying I don't think it's necessary to read Frey's books straight through, but just have them as references by your keyboard as you're putting together your rough drafts. As references these books are indispensable in my experienced opinion.
Yes, I still think he talks onto much sometimes and I think he often gives too many examples of one thing, when 2 or even 1 would be sufficient.
That having been said this flaw in Frey's writing wasn't enough to give him anything less than five stars in a review, his books at that indispensably instructive. "Oh yes, it also pays very well read in the genre you want to write in before reading any of Frey's books. That way you don't have to spend a lot of time getting his exemplars out of the library or watching them on your streaming service. Keep in mind to he wrote these books before streaming services or even DVDs were a thing. However this certainly shouldn't put anybody off reading him. James N Frey is a must read for anybody wants to write serious fiction, even short stories.

[alexander shay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book follows an interesting structure I didn't entirely expect. It's almost the reverse of what writing classes teach you, but writing classes do focus more on contemporary/literary/mainstream. Writing a thriller (or mystery, as they overlap a fair bit) requires knowing Frey calls "the plot behind the plot", or the actions/events that are the cause of the book taking place. From there, you need to know your villain, the instigator of the plot--without them, there would be no story. Then you can start looking into your protagonist and the main page-by-page story. It's a system that makes sense though, because in thrillers more than any other type of book there is the hero/villain face off. Lots of mainstream/contemporary/slice of life books don't even have a villain in the sense of an actual person, and instead focus on the protagonist and their life instead of the cat-and-mouse between hero and villain. But many of the tools in this book are useful for any genre really, and it doesn't focus on the usual things writing books do because those were covered in other books Frey wrote before this one, so there isn't much time wasted explaining the basics of storytelling.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I've been kicking around the idea of writing in this genre. The information that actually dealt with how to develop an idea and plot a thriller was useful. Unfortunately, most of the book is taken up by endless examples of synopses of either books/movies in the genre or a series of made-up plots. I skimmed through all of them after the first few pages because they were very boring and tedious. Ultimately, I did find some nuggets of interesting information here, but I found myself repeatedly annoyed by the author's pompous bias. He doesn't just say "this is how I would do things," but actively mocks those who do it differently (even if they have been successful) with a very demeaning tone. It's a shame that the useful information found here is overshadowed by this egotism.

[Debra Daniels-Zeller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great inspiring read about writing fiction from James N. Frey, this book covers some of what his books How to Write a Damn Good Novel, both 1 and 2 and goes into depth about creating villians and the secrets of clever plotting. I never read one of Frey's books without learning something new and he doesn't beat around the bushes, but enlightens readers about story and character development. In this book I loved the flawed thriller hero and how to dream the fictive dream. I also appreciated the in-depth step sheet in this guide. In Fry's books, writers come to understand premise, avoiding muddles in the middle and delivering a satisfying ending. This book is a another keeper for a fiction writer's bookshelf.

[Kathryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to acknowledge there was some good advice, but Mr. Frey came across so arrogant and rude that it was unpleasant to read. I was having trouble finishing so I came to Goodreads to see what other people thought and after reading the GOOD reviews, I happily close the book.

I've read about writing as told by Stephen King, Terry Brooks, Diana Gabaldon, Neil Gaiman, and Ursula K. LeGuin and when these writers (with names known to many more millions than Mr. Frey) talk about THEIR writing process they don't feel a need to rudely criticize anyone who doesn't agree with them. In fact Terry Brooks specifically mentions that his technique is different than Stephen King's but he does it in a "different strokes for different folks" voice.

[Glen Engel-Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading this book over a year ago when I had completed the rough draft of my second novel but wasn't happy with the ending. I had envisioned my new book as a type of murder mystery that was less of a ‘whodunit’ and more of a ‘will-he-get-away-with- it. I had written the nearly 60,000 words over the course of November 2016 as part of National Novel Writing Month and knew as I was writing it that I would need to tighten it up, but wasn’t quite sure how to go about it when I stopped. Halfway through Frey's book, I realized what my book needed: more conflict. It wasn't that the protagonist was passive, but that too much of what went on wasn't action. Then I sat on the book—and didn't come back to it or Frey’s—until last month, having made my new year's resolution to finally "finish" this novel.

“How to Write” books can't teach you to write. But, as in my example above, they can lead you to new ways to think about your writing. There's lots of things that Frey suggests here that I will never do—his method of outline and plotting isn't part of my creative process. But his advice though can be used for many purposes, if only to ask yourself, why would I not do that?

[Aly · Rating 4 out of 5]

L'autore consiglia alcune tecniche di costruzione della sceneggiatura e dei personaggi. Tecniche che per lui ben si adattano alla scrittura di un thriller. Resta quasi sempre sul vago dicendo cosa lui farebbe ma senza approfondire in modo dettagliato. La maggior parte delle volte porta esempi più o meno calzanti con quello che sta spiegando. Secondo me non è una lettura per principianti ma per chi ha già gli strumenti critici e una conoscenza tecnica di base che gli permette di distinguere tra le opinioni personali dell'autore e qualche buon consiglio.

[Jennifer Bolton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frey works through several story ideas to show you how it's done, but lost me when he said he went to Israel to do research for the one story he chose to use as his example. Great idea, but not a lot of use aspiring writers can afford to pop overseas, so that leaves Google and the library.
Many years ago I read Frey's How to Write a Damn Good Novel, which I found inspiring and practical. Many of the same principles are reiterated in this book. I might just try to write a damn good thriller!

[Candice Roma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good advice but too many pitch ideas

There is a lot of good writing advice in the book, but the author uses book ideas he's developing to illustrate his points. By the end he settles on one book but in the beginning there seem like 8 or more ideas being developed. It gets really tiresome.

[Terry Heath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great tips

Great tips for building a thriller. The examples from Frey’s writing were good for illustration, but perhaps acted a bit like padding as well. Either way, this is a book I’ll study and use frequently.

[Gisele Thomson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful to better understand writing thriller genre

Enjoyed reading. Helpful. Practical. A lot of good ideas. I loved how he walks the reader through samples within different approaches of the genre.

[Amy Tasukada · Rating 3 out of 5]

nice, some good tips, but a lot of pages spend on random stories showing you the technique. like a LOT maybe half the book. Wish there was more talk about it or at least more notes within the example technique vs just copy paste text.

[Moon Petrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Direct, clear, good pacing, no nonsense: just like a good thriller. I found this book refreshing and unpretentious and not quite what I’d expected. I’m glad I purchased it instead of borrowing it from the library, because I will definitely refer back to it.

[The Bookmonger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great tips in this one. Some things might work for your process, some things won't. There's tons of examples, which some might find helpful. I didn't, so I skipped them. But I walked away with a good idea of the elements I need to hit while crafting my story, and for that I'm grateful.

[Jen Watkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took notes.

[Amy Thaxton]

DNF..So terrible. Just so terrible.

[Daniel Padró · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh