How do you keep your thriller "thrilling?"

emeraldcite said:

How do you keep your thriller moving?

One of the most important aspects of a thriller (at least most that I've read...) is structure.

A couple of questions to get the ball rolling:

1) Do you meticulously plan out your novel, or do you like the process to be organic and let it grow on its own (of course, all novels grow, but it's the method to your madness that I'd like to know.)

2) How do you keep the plot rolling? Cliffhangers at the end of every chapter? Throwing your character in front of a proverbial train? Slow buildup of tension over time? Explosions?

3) Short chapter thrillers or long chapters? Which do you prefer?

4) Favorite authors/novels that you use for models...What's your type of thriller?

Click to expand...

1-Mostly organic. I know where I want to go but if it starts to go off in a different direction I run with it or it with me.

2-All of these. Change it up. Slow boil next explosive pace whatever you feel it needs at that point.

3-No preference some of my chapters are 3/4 of a page. Others are 20 pages.

4-Ludlum,Hunter,Clancy,Patterson etc etc.

<<1) Do you meticulously plan out your novel, or do you like the process to be organic and let it grow on its own (of course, all novels grow, but it's the method to your madness that I'd like to know.)<<

No, it's been seat of the pants writing. We've always known how it was going to end, but it's been through a lot of changes. The best description comes from Family Circus when Billy swears he came right home, but the dotted line shows that he was wandering all over the place. Though this is our first completed one, and it has been a learning process.

<<2) How do you keep the plot rolling? Cliffhangers at the end of every chapter? Throwing your character in front of a proverbial train? Slow buildup of tension over time? Explosions?<<

Peaks and valleys. Right before a big action scene coming up, we slow the pacing down to give the reader a breather. Each action scene though is another step up, escalating the action until the end of the story where we shoot off all the fireworks at once (so to speak).

<<3) Short chapter thrillers or long chapters? Which do you prefer? <<

I hate short chapters, particularly after reading Carol Higgins Clark's half a page chapters. If the author didn't think the chapter was worth more than half a page or a couple pages, then why write it in the first place? Our typical chapter is 15 pages.

<<4) Favorite authors/novels that you use for models...What's your type of thriller?>>

Mine is action-adventure for women, and unfortunately, there isn't anything on the market like it--and only a few action-adventure thriller writers out there to start with (Cussler, Preston/Child).

<<3) Short chapter thrillers or long chapters? Which do you prefer? <<

I hate short chapters, particularly after reading Carol Higgins Clark's half a page chapters. If the author didn't think the chapter was worth more than half a page or a couple pages, then why write it in the first place? Our typical chapter is 15 pages.

I use short chapters to sometimes bring up the action or doings of other characters or to update the reader to other events that are unfolding.

emeraldcite said:

Thanks for the replies. I've found that the toughest thing to maintain in a thriller is that sense of tension. Can you keep the reader turning the pages until they can't keep their eyes open any longer?

It's a challenge, but a fun one.

Click to expand...

I use both peaks and valleys and story structure to work with the tension. Too much tension for too long can be just as boring as no tension at all (same goes for action, too). The valleys give the reader a break from the tension so that when something big happens later on, it's a shock and it's exciting. The story structure has be such that it allows the valley; if I can't put on in, it's likely that there's a structural issue that needs to be worked out.