How to Write a Bestselling Thriller: 7 Expert Tips from Lisa Gardner
Ready to write a page-turner? All you’ll need are characters who command and plot twists that shock combined with dashes of hope, periods of fear and oh yeah, an ending that should both surprise the reader and make perfect sense. Easy breezy, right? While there’s no one winning approach, here are seven tips to help guide your efforts:
- Start with compelling research that can lead to unexpected outcomes
In this day and age of “authentic fiction,” readers expect real world procedure, combined with over-the-top crimes. Speaking for myself, I like to take a three-pronged approach—read articles, interview experts, and finally, engage in direct experiences. Talking directly to specialists helps me understand all the things I didn’t know that I didn’t know, say the best way to cover the smell of decomp is with burnt coffee grounds. Same with hands-on exposure. I’ve “died” in numerous SWAT training drills, though it turns out I’d make an excellent getaway driver. The sound of the gun fire, the haunting impact of walking Death’s Acre, the smell of an overcrowded refugee camp where the rats nibble at fingers and toes… These are things I never knew and now can never unknow. A good thriller can do that.
- Establish a setting that will add to tone and tension
One of my favorite parts of writing the Frankie Elkin series is that she moves around. A lot. In each book, the fresh setting serves as an additional character, as well as plot complication. The sense of vulnerability that comes with being a lone female walking down back alleys. The punishing hike up a towering peak that frays an expedition team before the real work even begins. Growth comes from adversity. Your setting can be one of the best tools for ramping up tension, breaking down character and hiding explosive secrets. I like to visit locations in person so that I can experience all five senses. For example, staying on a remote atoll in the Pacific for STILL SEE YOU EVERYWHERE quickly veered from the picture-perfect view of white sandy beaches to the piercing shriek of sea birds constantly swooping overhead and the oppressive feel of my sweat-soaked clothes plastered against my skin. After that, it was only a hop, skip and a jump to turn paradise into murder and mayhem.
- Create compelling protagonists and a worthy opponent
If there’s one element that can make or break a book, character development is it. Thrillers are about starting with an intricate puzzle, then ramping up the conflict with unsettling discoveries. But none of that is meaningful if we don’t care about the people involved. Moreover, many beginning writers make the mistake of inventing intelligent, clever protagonists, but then pit them against one-note villains. You want the match of skill and wits to be even, enabling an inventive game of cat and mouse. One trick—give each character a set a values, the lines they wouldn’t cross. Ted Bundy thought nothing of murdering countless women. On the other hand, he refused to steal an uninsured car because that he considered cruel.
- Unveil your twisting plot slowly, two steps forward, one step back until ultimately…
Syd Field’s book on screen writing is still the best plotting advice I know. Basically, start with a bang, build tension interspersed with brief moments of respite, then throw in complication after complication until all appears lost. At that point, your protagonists will refuse to give in, launch their last-ditch effort to save the day, and, of course, emerge triumphant. For me, it takes three or four iterations to get this steadily escalating story arc correct. I don’t outline, but discover as I go, which is definitely scary and stressful. On the other hand, if I can’t see what’s going to happen next, neither can the reader.
- Exacerbate conflicts and character development by steadily increasing the stakes
When I submitted the initial draft of my debut thriller, THE PERFECT HUSBAND, my editor felt the novel was too linear. It needed to be “bigger.” So I added more action sequences and random scenes, which in the end, made the book longer, but not any better. Best trick for keep your plot moving and the pages flying, put more and more at stake. In the beginning of KISS HER GOODBYE, Frankie is only looking for a missing mother. But then, when the woman’s four-year old daughter is nearly kidnapped…
- Tantalize your reader with hints of hope
I’ve always maintained you can write as dark as you want, as long as you don’t cross the line into hopelessness. People read to escape. As a result, you must seek to modulate tension. Plot twists, escalating anxiety and harsh setbacks should be followed by fresh ideas and new plans for attack. Small comic scenes, I can’t believe we’re still alive sex, all make for nice changes in rhythm. Personally, I love Petunia in KISS HER GOODBYE. Who knew a green iguana could be the perfect crime-novel therapy-pet? Think in terms of “this situation is just so damn tough, but wait, I got an idea…” That keeps the reader going.
- Satisfy your reader with a sense of closure
End with a bang. Nothing is worse than a thriller that runs out of steam. In dramatic narratives, there’s generally a black moment, when all hope seems lost. Except then, your brilliant detective realizes the answer to the riddle and devises an extraordinarily clever plan to save the day. Yeah! Good once more triumphs over evil! Now, give your protagonists a second to not only wrap up plot details but also unwind from the emotional toll. Your main character is the proxy for the reader. As the character finally exhales, so does the reader. And then you’re ready to write the next adventure.
Discover the Book
Frankie quickly notes there’s much more to the Ahmadi family than meets the eye. The father Isaad is a brilliant mathematician, Sabera a gifted linguist, and their little girl Zahra has an uncanny ability to remember anything she sees. Which given everything that has happened during the girl’s short life, may be a terrible curse.
When Isaad also disappears under mysterious circumstances and an attempt is made on Zahra’s life, Frankie realizes she must crack the code of this family’s horrific past. Someone is coming for the Ahmadis. And violence is clearly an option.
When everything is on the line, how far would you go to protect the ones you love? Frankie is about to find out.
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