Categories
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

Adding Mystical Elements – Good or Bad?

Does the addition of a mystical character or creature enhance or detract from our mystery, suspense, and thrillers?

Maybe.

Will adding the supernatural to our story set us apart or make us look like amateurs?

It depends. But it seems well suited for an added twist in our genre.

Consider the following.

What is the element? How well is it written? Who comprises our intended audience?

What are mystical elements?

The definition of mystical covers the range from the supernatural and paranormal to extraordinary and exceptional. For purposes of this article, let’s focus on angels and magic and/or dark forces.

We’ve all viewed angel characters in feel-good TV dramas and movies. In fact, in some shows and books we expect these celestial visitations or at least wonder if certain characters might be heavenly messengers. Think Karen Kingsbury’s popular Angel Walking book series. Roma Downey starred in the Touched by an Angel television program from September 1994 through April 2003. Various Hallmark Channel movies feature angel characters especially in their Christmas-themed shows. Or go back further and Michael Landon’s Highway to Heaven enjoyed success in the 1980s.

On the other hand, black magic and/or dark forces comprise a huge mystical element in much of literature and film. The successful Da Vinci Code book series by Dan Brown, and the subsequent movies, feature these elements. The Twilight Sagas fascinated audiences from 2008 through 2012 by casting vampires and their human counterparts. The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice have sold eighty million copies worldwide.

How do we add a mystical element and make it believable?

Utilize a light touch. Avoid crossing too heavily into the paranormal, supernatural, or fantasy worlds. These are separate genres from the mystery, suspense, and thriller, although all share intrigue, conflict, and tension.

Keep the element from rising above the plot line. Dish out the influence of mystical characters like salt on popcorn. Too much makes even the best popped snack inedible. But if our writing takes us in that direction, dial back the mystical or consider changing genres.

Fight the pull of lazy writing. Let the character struggle with clues or relationships. They must do the hard work and experience tension and conflict even though technically a mystical character can aid our protagonist in accomplishing most anything.

Avoid the dreaded Deus ex machina, Latin for “a god from the machine.” Don’t depend on interjecting a new force, character, or circumstance to rescue the protagonist at the climax of the story. Plot no easy answers or direct paths for the protagonist’s journey.

Mystical elements or not, the same rules of writing a novel apply.

Who is our target audience?

In the Inspirational Market angels may be a good fit. Messengers from heaven are biblical, add a feel-good charm, and can offer an unexpected twist. Goodreads lists hundreds of angel related books on their website. What are your favorite clean-reads utilizing angels? Share yours in the comment section below!

The General Market often expects darker elements. Stephen King has sold more than 350 millioncopies of his fifty-eight novels, many of which have been adapted into feature films, miniseries, and television series. The highly successful TV program, Supernatural, ran from 2005 through 2020.

Know your readers and publishers. Be aware of the preferences of both the Inspirational and General markets before pitching and/or marketing your novel. Even before putting words to the page, ask who is the audience and what are your goals to reach them? The answers will guide your writing.

Is a mystical element good or bad? It depends on how we utilize this intriguing and challenging feature. Considering adding it to your arsenal of literary devices. Just the right touch may make your story rise above the rest in the mind of publishers and readers. And that’s what we want.

Write well, my friends,

PJ Gover

PJ Gover encourages her readers to live the thrill one story at a time. She wrote her first thriller at age nine, all of six pages, but only returned to creating suspense/thrillers years later after unearthing her deceased father’s secret work designing missiles for the government. After fifteen writing awards her high school English teacher must be shaking her head in disbelief. A ranch in Texas serves as home base. Offer her well-crafted chili rellenos or anything gluten-free and you’ll have a friend for life. Jim Hart of Hartline Literary represents PJ.

She’d love to hear from you!

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Categories
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

A Few Good (Plot) Twists

Good plot twists can make or break our story. While twists are important to all fiction writing, they are key to the mystery, suspense, and thriller genre. Let’s make our novels an enjoyable journey where nothing is as it seems, no thread is easily untangled, and no question conveniently answered

What is a Plot Twist?

According to Goodreads.com, “mystery-thrillers are stories with twists and turns that keep you on your toes guessing about the truth, the POV’s truth, and about what will happen next.”

Literaryterms.net describes plot twists as an unsuspected occurrence or turn of events in the story that completely changes the direction or outcome of the plot from the direction it was likely to go.

Twists introduce unexpected change. Great ones make excellent page-turners worthy of our readers’ time and money. They push the predictable and formulaic novel into the innovative realm, sparking imagination and interest.

Plot Twist Examples

Even though Agatha Christie died in 1976, her great use of plot twists contributes to the continued popularity of her 66 novels and 14 short story collections.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926), Christie’s breakout novel, adds twists to the previously accept ‘rules’ of writing fiction. The results revolutionize mystery writing. She includes the narrator committing the murder, and makes the least likely person into a criminal. A range of meek and mild characters may all be hiding a mysterious past or dangerous secret.

Murder on the Orient Express (1934) uses the environment, a train trapped in a snowdrift, to make her twist work. She limits the number of potential suspects. Spoiler! The reader eventually discovers almost everyone aboard the train plays a part in the murder.

In And Then There Were None (1939) an island provides the setting where the group of characters are trapped together. They all hold secrets and everyone supposedly dies. Spoiler! One of the victims actually fakes their death and is the murderer.

Why are Plot Twists Important?

Twists push away the predictable aspects in our chapters and reel in the suspense. They keep our mysterious murderer or evil antagonist undetected and the tension high until the final page.

According to Rachel Poli in her June 2017 blog post, The Importance Of Plot Twists, good ones reveal something big. They allow something unexpected to happen, and expertly use foreshadowing and red herrings. Twists keep the story full of tension, suspenseful, shocking, and revealing without appearing random.

Readers of the mystery, suspense, thriller genre love the challenge of solving our novel’s puzzle. Surprise turns keep them sitting on the edge of their seat, turning pages, immersed in the plot. Never give them a reason to close the book and walk away.

Conclusion

Plot twists can determine the success or failure of our story. We want reader satisfaction, positive reviews, and book sales or the eye of an agent or publisher. Incorporating this literary device is a skill we can learn and enhance with each manuscript we craft. Readers will reap the benefits, and gladly dive into the delightful read you and your stories provide.

Embrace the twist!

Write well, my friends.

PJ Gover

PJ Gover encourages her readers to live the thrill one story at a time. She wrote her first thriller at age nine, all of six pages, but only returned to creating suspense/thrillers years later after unearthing her deceased father’s secret work designing missiles for the government. After fifteen writing awards her high school English teacher must be shaking her head in disbelief. A ranch in Texas serves as home base. Offer her well-crafted chili rellenos or anything gluten-free and you’ll have a friend for life. Jim Hart of Hartline Literary represents PJ.

She’d love to hear from you!

Categories
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

Using Novels as Craft Books

What’s the secret of using others’ stories to beef up our own without plagiarizing?

I’m always looking to craft my suspense/thriller manuscripts into something that’s worthy of publication. I find reading a well-crafted novel in my genre is one of the best ways to improve my own writing.

Recently, I finished one of the many suspense novels by an author I enjoy, but I wasn’t keying in on any kind of errors (there were none to my eyes) in order to dash off a negative tweet or post, or to simply lose myself in the story, but to learn.

So, I studied how this author assembled everything throughout her book. It’s harder than it sounds because I kept getting lost in the story and characters, but I forced myself to maintain my scholarly approach and stay in critique-mode. I even jotted down actual notes. (A great way to make sure your Comparables and their summaries in a proposal aimed toward traditional publishing are accurate.)

I noted the following:

What was the author’s first sentence, first paragraph, first page? How did she end the first chapter?

How did she make use of the second chapter? Did she introduce the antagonist or the love interest with a second Point of View? If so, how often did she bring it in? Every other chapter? Every few chapters? Did she give each POV several chapters in a row before changing POVs? Did she bring in more than two POVs?

I made special note of how she ended the third chapter because the first three chapters are included in a book proposal and potential publishers base acceptance or rejection on these. From these chapters, I tried to figure out what drew this particular manuscript to the publisher when it was just a few pages within the author’s proposal. Hint – end the third chapter with a tasty cliffhanger, something to encourage the acquisition editor to ask for a full manuscript!

In what ways did the author end the first quarter of the book? Was there a transition in the main character’s journey?

What about the midpoint of the book? Was there a ‘pow’? A major main character realization? A big reveal? An unexpected twist? Some authors do a big midpoint and the reader can actually turn to the middle of the book and find it exactly on the page half-way through the book. Dean Koontz is big for his midpoint ‘pows’. And yes, my ‘template’ author provided one as well.

At the start of the second half of the book, what happened in the plot? What did the characters do differently?

Did the second half build toward the climax in a logical way? Did the climax keep the reader turning pages?

How was the denouement handled? Did the story answer all the questions the author presented? Did it set up a second book in a series? Even if the book is part of a series, it should still end with all loose ends neatly knotted.

Finally, was the ending satisfying and did it make sense? There’s nothing worse for a reader than to lose themselves in a story only to slam against an ending that leaves them hanging. Don’t be that author.

I also studied details––word choice, sentence structure, paragraph structure, use of phrases versus full sentences, dialogue, character description and development, scene description, and cliffhangers. What were the mood, tone, and pacing, and how did they create the feeling the author was trying to portray?

I use books from my favorite genre––mystery, suspense, and thriller––as a sort of textbook for crafting my own stories. But don’t get me wrong. I often just read to lose myself in the author’s fictional world and escape my own for a few hours.

“As writers, our greatest instructors will always be other stories. Novels, television, movies, graphic novels, video games — anything that tells a story is our mentor and our muse.” John Matthew Fox

Every story can serve as a catalyst for ideas and a conveyer of information to guide us.

It’s good to know we have multiple ‘craft’ books at our fingertips with every novel we read. In fact, they hold important secrets for our own. It’s best we mine each one.

Write well, my friends.

PJ Gover

PJ Gover encourages her readers to live the thrill one story at a time. She wrote her first thriller at age nine, all of six pages, but only returned to creating suspense/thrillers years later after unearthing her deceased father’s secret work designing missiles for the government. After thirteen writing awards, including five for first place, her high school English teacher must be shaking her head in disbelief. A ranch in Texas serves as home base. Offer her well-crafted chili rellenos or anything gluten-free and you’ll have a friend for life. Jim Hart of Hartline Literary represents PJ.

She’d love to hear from you!

Categories
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

Pets as a Plot Ploy

Are pets an asset or an albatross in our mystery, suspense, and thriller genre?

Pets have shown up in film since the time of silent movies and far earlier in the written word. Both film makers and authors draw out strong emotions through the use of animals.

Dogs seem to be a staple in cozy mysteries and romance stories, adding a feel-good dimension. Lassie and Rin Tin Tin, the iconic furry best friends of the shows of the 1950s and 60s, elicited a sense of stability as they sought justice alongside their human companions.

On the opposite, movies and books abound with examples of less than stellar animals––Cujo, the St. Bernard, from 1980s movie and Stephen King novel, The Shining, the zombie Malamute from the movie, Pet Sematary II, based on another Stephen King novel, and the wild Aussie dogs cross bred with wolves in the 2015 Australian film, The Pack.

One image connotes sloppy kisses and waggling tails, the other, bared teeth, drool, and mange.

Let’s consider three uses for employing a pet character:

  • Rachet up the tension and conflict
  • Describe a character
  • Create mood.

Tension and conflict

The reader feels unsettled when the family dog raises its hackles as it stares at a blank wall, or the cat unexpectedly claws a long-time friend. The dog jumping from the bed and barking in the middle of the night serves the same purpose. Our characters may respond with fear, curiosity, or amusement––pulling bedcovers up to their chin, running to the dog, grabbing the gun, yelling out in frustration, or simply chuckling—depending on the level of conflict the plot demands. The response raises or lowers the tension.

Character Description

When our character goes for a run with a Labrador in tow, we’re likely looking at a people-person who’s physically fit. Or when the character lives with fifteen cats at the end of the lane in a dilapidated house, we think recluse and a little creepy. Readers may connect Pit Bulls with villains.

If our character houses snakes or iguanas, we view the person differently than one who raises Springer Spaniels. If the dog is chained in the backyard, we think cruelty. If the pooch eats lobster and salmon, our character is either wealthy and indulgent, or self-sacrificing, putting the perceived needs of a pet above their own.

One can visualize each of these characters, as Jerry B. Jenkins says, “in the theater of your mind.”

Create a Mood

Marley and Me, the 2008 movie based on the autobiographical novel by John Grogan of the same name, drew us in as the author interacted with his yellow Labrador Retriever and the grief following his death. The story tugged at viewers’ and readers’ heartstrings, and no doubt, increased fans and book sales alike.

A cat curled in a slant of sunlight ushers in a sense of relaxation. The dog romps through the park, and we want to grab a Frisbee and a pair of running shoes. With the sight of a growling, seething junkyard dog in a dark alley, our backs slam against the wall and our hands reach for a weapon.

Never an afterthought

Like all characters, never throw in a pet without first considering how they enhance the plot. Pets need names, purpose, even backstory. The reader reacts differently to a rescue dog than a show dog, or to a rain-soaked kitten versus a twenty-pound Persian perched on a velvet cushion. But avoid overwhelming the main plot with pet subplots as a way to distract from poor story structure.

Statistics

According to spots.com, two out of every three American homes includes a pet, and 393.3 million pets live in the United States. A 2019/20 pet owners survey reveals over 63 million households in the United States owned at least one dog.

We’re in good company when we include a pet in our novels. They add another tool in our writer’s bag to bring our story to life. Consider casting one in your next mystery, suspense, or thriller and keep your reader turning the page.

Write well, my friends.

PJ Gover

PJ Gover encourages her readers to live the thrill one story at a time. She wrote her first thriller at age nine, all of six pages, but only returned to creating suspense/thrillers years later after unearthing her deceased father’s secret work designing missiles for the government. After thirteen writing awards, including five for first place, her high school English teacher must be shaking her head in disbelief. A ranch in Texas serves as home base. Offer her well-crafted chili rellenos or anything gluten-free and you’ll have a friend for life. Jim Hart of Hartline Literary represents PJ.

She’d love to hear from you!

Categories
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

Authors as Psychotherapists – Getting into the Mind of Our Characters

What can authors learn from the world of psychotherapy?

According to the Microsoft Bing definition, a psychotherapist “treats mental disorders by psychological rather than medical means.” Korin Miller offers the reason. “The goal of therapy is to give you the tools and strategies for navigating whatever is going on in your life.”

While I earned my college degree in Human Relations and Psychology, I am no expert, but I can research and ask questions of those who are. Applying psychotherapy technique to our characters is an interesting exercise and may bring an affirming nod from agents, publishers, and readers.

Sitting behind the comfort of our keyboard, we novelists can psychoanalyze our characters’ lives. Of course, we have the advantage since we created those lives! We push them through internal lies, flaws, and wounds as they navigate the storyworld with the tools we provide. The more intriguing the ‘disorder’ we assign our characters, the more invested our readers become.

If our goal is inspiration, our characters journey through hardship and into the light of emotional and spiritual growth. If we leave them in darkness, we may provoke thought, as some novels do, but that makes for a different story than I write. But I recognize the technique.

Most protagonists, and certainly our antagonists in the mystery, suspense, and thriller genre, possess some sort of disorder. The ‘disorder’ falls somewhere on a scale, from what pushes an unassuming village librarian to unravel a cozy mystery to a psychopath bent on world destruction. No matter the genre, our characters’ world is out of kilter and needs righting. A ‘disorder’ can add an interesting element to the process.

Let’s consider a few psychotherapy angles.

Fear, frustration, or hurt

Much of how we respond to life falls under these three emotions. They must be worked through before they lead to anger. If not, anger turned inward can develop into depression, and turned outward, into rage.

For our protagonist – fear, frustration, or hurt can jump-start their journey. They want to solve the murder, figure out the riddle, defeat the bad guy, stop the assassination, wipe out the terrorist. These will either explain their reluctance in acting or push them into their journey. Or it can alter their quest if they spiral into depression or explode into rage. Use this to create twists.

For our antagonist – if they view the protagonist as having initiated fear, frustration, or hurt or one of these emotions has carried over from a difficult childhood, their motivation becomes understandable. Even bad guys can’t be completely bad or they become one-dimensional, boring stereotypes. Everything fuels their rage. Apply these to dig deeper holes for our protagonist.

Reframing the Past

Events stay the same, but the way they’re interpreted depends on the individual and can change the present and future.

For our protagonist – throughout the story they rethink past events. Clues become clearer and redirect their choices, bringing fresh insight. Confidence grows and defeating the foe becomes attainable.

For our antagonist – their reframing is all about putting events in the worse possible light. They see bad where good is, and negative instead of positive, and rush to act. These can create devastating consequences for our noble protagonist.

Three Types of Anxiety – Existential, Chronic, and Acute

Existential anxiety seeks answers for life’s big questions – what’s my purpose? What happens after I die? Ongoing, trying events with no simple resolution lead to chronic anxiety. Acute stress results from a late payment or a mix-up with insurance – something that sprouts up, aggravating but is more easily solvable.

For our protagonist – anxious thoughts drive their actions, and ratchet up tension and conflict. They may stress over life’s purpose or the opposite, feel confident about eternity because of a certain worldview. The chronic effects of a poor childhood may bubble up and alter their journey for a time or they experience a flat tire while rushing for a job interview. Utilize these for cliffhangers.

For our antagonist – the future matters little as making others miserable in the here and now is paramount. Pain from their past drives their actions. Every new decision by our lovely protagonist throws their plans awry, while raising the stakes and their level of rage.

Putting into Practice

Character-building is a challenge for even the seasoned author. Do your research. Throwing in a ‘disorder’ may raise your story’s stakes and create memorable characters. Consider the techniques psychotherapists offer as another avenue to set your story above the rest.

Write well, my friends.

PJ Gover encourages her readers to live the thrill one story at a time. She wrote her first thriller at age nine, all of six pages, but only returned to creating suspense/thrillers years later after unearthing her deceased father’s secret work designing missiles for the government. After thirteen writing awards, including five for first place, her high school English teacher must be shaking her head in disbelief. A ranch in Texas serves as home base. Offer her well-crafted chili rellenos or anything gluten-free and you’ll have a friend for life. Jim Hart of Hartline Literary represents PJ.

She’d love to hear from you!

Categories
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

When You Feel Like Giving Up

Somewhere along the way doubts may have bubbled up and spilled over. Is the mystery, suspense, thriller genre still the best course for me as a writer? After all, it’s not romance which always seems at the top of book sale charts. Will my mystery sell? Will my suspense catch the attention of an agent? Will my thriller be picked up by a publisher?

As a writer, what drew you to this category?

Perhaps a special book, a captivating movie or TV show, or teacher, parent, friend launched your interest.

Whatever avenue our genre took to travel into your life, you fell, as my grandmother used to say, hook, line, and sinker. When you stepped into writing mystery, suspense, or thriller stories, it felt like comfortable jeans on a lazy spring day, fuzzy slippers on a chilly evening, steaming vanilla roast as the golden glow peeked over the horizon. By now, you’ve either whipped out your first manuscript or are trying to craft something spectacular. Something different to merit a second look from agents and acquisition editors.

But the question arises, am I wasting my time?

When you first jumped into our special pool of intrigue, I imagine you had confirmation of some sort. It came from your personal interests, a trusted friend or family member, or winning a contest. You may have invested hours and energy into designing charming clues, crafting the unexpected, or storyboarding global conspiracies. You’ve plotted, developed character arcs, delved into inner and outer journeys. You’ve created realistic settings and back stories. Each chapter ends with a compelling cliffhanger, and each incident raises the stakes.

 Don’t give up now. Go back and find what first drew you to this genre. Reread those early books that captured your heart and mind. Watch that favorite movie you couldn’t stop talking about. Pick the brains of those who know you best.

Read the latest releases––general market and inspirational. What is selling now? Peruse authors and their books at your favorite publishers’ websites. Scan bookseller catalogues. For the Inspirational market, Christianbook.com offers titles and brief synopses of its latest and upcoming releases. Know what compares to your work. Know what is selling.

Maybe you’ve had enough of the writing world and its technology. Take a break, take a breath. Change your surroundings. Go for a walk, explore a park, or take a drive around the city or into rural areas or through wide open spaces. A place where you draw strength. Bask in solitude or in the bustle of high energy.

Embrace free-range writing. Write whatever comes to mind. Something for your eyes only. No goals, no deadlines, no pressure.

Visit with or read about inspirational people.

As I’ve learned from English mystery shows, you can always put the kettle on. As you wait for the water to boil, let your mind wander and guide you back.

Failure is not final. Failure in a chosen genre is not final either.

The fragrance of the lowly rosemary bush, native to my part of Texas, is enhanced when pressure is applied by rubbing the stalk between warm hands. It’s most useful when crushed for the oils or dried for cooking. Heat ramps up its use and flavor.

Channel the pressure you feel into perfecting your craft, and creating the best plot and characters ever. Better days are ahead!

Let me know how it goes. You’ve got this.

Write well, my friends,

PJ Gover encourages her readers to live the thrill…one story at a time, whether through her devotionals or thrillers. She has received eleven writing awards including first place in the Write-to-Publish and North Carolina Christian Writers contests and a two-time winner in American Christian Fiction Writer’s First Impressions contest. Her one-year devotional book, Celebrate Thee Date, can be found at 4homestore.com/devotional-books.

A ranch in Texas serves as home base where she is currently working on a suspense novel. Offer her Mexican food or anything gluten-free and you’ll have a friend for life.

Jim Hart of Hartline Literary Agency represents PJ.

Connect with PJ at PJGover.com or facebook.com/pj.gover

Categories
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

Suspense = Uncertainty

Battered fingers dig into the edge of a balcony on the twentieth floor of a New York apartment building. The murderer smiles and steps closer. Dangling over a deep gorge and swift-flowing river, sweaty palms grip a fraying rope, muscles stretched to the max. Two miles from shore, a speed boat rams the trawler. The victim jumps free, but ocean waves swell and they spot a shark’s dorsal fin.

“Suspense is the lack of certainty . . . leaving the reader to wonder what will happen. It draws the reader into the story and creates a sense of momentum to the plot.”

Lori Jordan

Suspense is critical for our mystery, suspense, thriller genre. We want our readers to feel, taste, touch, smell, and hear uncertainty in our plot, from our characters, and within our dialogue. Make our readers care about our characters. Make them worry and fear the worst by ratcheting up the tension. The worse it is for our character, the more our readers worry.

Dictionary.com defines suspense as a state or condition of mental uncertainty, excitement, insecurity, or anxiety, the state or condition of being suspended.

To flesh out the meaning, consider these synonyms: confusion, doubt, insecurity, tension, dilemma, worry, and expectation.

Confusion – Two suspects seem innocent. A third looks guilty, but their alibi checks out. Could another suspect be lurking about or are one of the first two the culprit? Or perhaps the third one?

Doubt – The evidence appears solid, the suspects obvious, but a niggling in the back of the brain screams things are not as they seem.

Insecurity – In his last case, your character sent an innocent man to his death. The next step seems clear, but your character fears pushing forward with an accusation.

Tension – The stalker emerges from the shadows. Thunder explodes in the night sky and lightning reveals a face in the window. Communication from your Confidential Informant ceases. Are they deep undercover or have they been eliminated?

Dilemma – Your brother-in-law dines with another woman at a table for two in a dark corner of a high-end restaurant. Do you tell your sister? Wait for the police to arrest him for embezzlement? Allow the authorities to sort it out and let the truth slowly emerge?

Worry – The airplane should have landed by now. Your reliable friend is two hours late for the appointment. As the storm approaches, the phone lines are down and cell services cease. The tide rises and laps at the front steps.

Expectation – After giving a clear description, the police should make an arrest, but they don’t. Your friend must turn himself in, but they cross the border instead. Your co-worker swears he’s telling the truth, but you learn it’s a lie.

“Think about an expected outcome and flip it around. Maybe something bad happening ends up being a blessing in disguise. If you mix positive and negative foreshadowing, you will keep your readers on their toes, wondering what will come next and surprised by whatever it is.”

Bill Powers

But what if we incorporate these ideas and our story still seems to drag?

“The solution isn’t more action or violence. Action doesn’t create suspense, it resolves it, and excessive violence quickly becomes numbing. The solution is to rack up the tension and suspense by making more and bigger promises about problems to come – disasters that will devastate the hero and his allies, shatter his plans and bring him so low that he might never recover.”

Ian Irvine

Good mystery, suspense, and thrillers share a common trait––uncertainty. Weave it into our story and keep your readers turning pages. Let me know how it goes!

“Uncertainty is the lifeblood of suspense. . . .The longer we keep our reader guessing, the more attention they will pay to what they are reading.”

Writer’s Digest

Write well, my friends.

PJ Gover encourages her readers to live the thrill…one story at a time, whether through her devotionals or thrillers. She has received eleven writing awards including first place in the Write-to-Publish and North Carolina Christian Writers contests and a two-time winner in American Christian Fiction Writer’s First Impressions contest. Her one-year devotional book, Celebrate Thee Date, can be found at 4homestore.com/devotional-books.

A ranch in Texas serves as home base where she is currently working on a suspense novel. Offer her Mexican food or anything gluten-free and you’ll have a friend for life.

Jim Hart of Hartline Literary Agency represents PJ.

Connect with PJ at PJGover.com or facebook.com/pj.gover

Categories
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

Why Write Mysteries, Suspense, and Thrillers?

Why do you write fiction? Why cloak your story in the mystery, suspense, or thriller genre?

The right answers enhance your writing and create a dynamic relationship between writer and reader. The wrong answers, well…

Fiction writers need to tell a story. We do so by expressing both the tangible and intangible of our imagined world through words––the perfect verb, an engaging phrase, a well-designed sentence. Perhaps we write for a sense of fulfillment or to work out a problem. Is writing a way to relieve stress or collect your thoughts? Maybe you’ve always considered yourself a writer or others tell you you’re a natural storyteller. Or you view yourself as a Wordsmith and simply desire to express your creativity through nouns and verbs. Do you want to relay a message, share an idea, or push an agenda? Be careful. I give a fat thumbs down when agenda-driven messages rise above a plotline.

Consider the quotes of famous authors of why they write.

 “…to rephrase the world, to take it in and give it back again differently, so that everything is used and nothing is lost.” Nicole Krauss

“I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” Flannery O’Connor

“Any writer worth his salt writes to please himself…It’s a self-exploratory operation that is endless.” Harper Lee

“Life never works except in retrospect. You can’t control life, at least you can control your version.” Chuck Palahniuk

“I write because I love writing. I think I became a writer in order to explore my ideas and responses to the world around me…I liked my autonomy, and a writer can choose his or her own working hours…if you’re a writer you don’t have to retire….” Alex Miller

“Writing is a great comfort to people like me, who are unsure of themselves and have trouble expressing themselves properly.” Agatha Christie

As I wrote my first thriller, I discovered it was one way to unravel the mysterious, untimely death of my father. Plus, his adventures as a rocket scientist during the height of the Cold War, a time when the threat of Soviet (Russian) communism marched as a formidable threat through Eastern Europe, made for a fascinating read. Encasing his account in the thriller format provided the perfect fit.

Why do you package your narrative as a mystery, suspense, or thriller?

Perhaps you grew up reading Nancy Drew-type mysteries and the genre stuck. Are you unraveling a private issue? Do you simply enjoy reading and creating confounding puzzles, wild adventures, and compelling quests? Or is it because our chosen genre is popular, usually in the top five of most sales charts.

“We write thrillers because we want to prove to ourselves and to our readers that right will win out over might, good over evil.” Peter Pollack

“I write thrillers because they’re the only stories I know.  If I exorcise a few demons in the process, that’s okay, too.” John Gilstrap

Perhaps Octavia E. Butler best expresses why you write mystery, suspense, or thrillers. “I just knew there were stories I wanted to tell.”

Once we discern the why of our story––provided our personal agenda slides under the obvious goal of a solid plot, interesting characters, exciting cliffhangers, and a satisfying ending––our words can resonate with our readers’ deepest emotions. They identify with our characters and our tale. Our depth of expression offers the “aha” and the “I love this book” moment, touching the innermost part of our readers’ life-story. This connection strengthens their commitment to our stories, our voice, our message. They share our books. Word-of-mouth spreads our message, sells our books, but more importantly, can change lives.

Why do you write fiction and wrap it in the mystery, suspense, thriller genre? Your answer can either enhance your literary influence or destroy a promising career.

It’s the personal depth we’re willing to reveal that keeps readers coming back for more and winning fans for life.

Write well, my friends.

PJ Gover encourages her readers to live the thrill…one story at a time, whether through her devotionals or thrillers. She has received eleven writing awards including first place in the Write-to-Publish and North Carolina Christian Writers contests and a two-time winner in American Christian Fiction Writer’s First Impressions contest. Her one-year devotional book, Celebrate Thee Date, can be found at 4homestore.com/devotional-books.

A ranch in Texas serves as home base where she is currently working on a suspense novel. Offer her Mexican food or anything gluten-free and you’ll have a friend for life.

Jim Hart of Hartline Literary Agency represents PJ.

Connect with PJ at PJGover.com or facebook.com/pj.gover

Categories
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

Research: Time-waster or Story-builder?

“I write fiction. Is research really necessary?”

“… a novelist has nearly the same obligation for accuracy as a news writer. Your made-up world must ring true.”

Chuck Sambuchino

How do mystery, suspense, and thriller writers produce an authentic novel and achieve believability?

Consider the seven “R’s”.

Ready an organizational system for the material you gather, whether it be an online file or old-school file folders. Utilize whatever makes sense to you.

Restrain from spending too much time on research.We’re fiction writers, not Ph.D. candidates working on dissertations.

Restrict your focus. Is your setting real or fictional? Is it set in the city or country, suburban or rural, present-day or historical? Determine key locations and the world beyond.

Readers bring no preconceptions to a fictional site. The author breathes life into the narrative by creating everything. Customs, history, climate, natural surroundings, people, food, the hobbies and jobs of the characters, maps, and even language must emerge from your imagination.

If your setting is a real place and you’ve failed to do the work, an agent, editor, or a reader who knows the area may label your book as implausible. Or worse, toss it onto the rejection pile.

“Stories set in real locations, then, demand detailed local knowledge and/or meticulous research of the setting.”

Harvey Chapman

Read magazines, journals, and books on your subject and in your genre. Learn the occupations of your characters. Dig into past events, the natural surroundings, and the latest news from the area. Make your backdrop as familiar as your own living room. Make the details as accurate as an FBI manual.

Utilize the resources of libraries, colleges and universities, museums, or law enforcement. Maps give us direction and perspective, and the placement of landmarks, roads, stores, houses, schools, and cemeteries. Data from contracts, marriage and birth licenses, and census records add authenticity.

Record observations. Watch others who are similar to your characters to see how they talk and behave. Visit places that serve the same food your characters would eat and places they might frequent.

Often a visual image will spark ideas. Watch videos on YouTube, catch documentaries, or even cruise Pinterest for ideas, inspiration, and information.

Road trip. The journey may be as close as the local library, or as far away as a long-distance car ride or flight. If you’ve never been to your novel’s location, consider discovering the area with a hands-on approach.

Notice details as you travel. These can contribute to your characters’ motives and choices.

Once there, talk to the locals. Discover the area’s activities, customs, traditions, where people shop, eat, go to school, and even select where your characters might live.

Walk the area and feel the ambiance. Use your senses. Find out what things taste like, smell like, feel like, sound like.

Research for my latest WIP required an eleven-hour road trip. Even though I was familiar with the area, I hadn’t visited in years. The lonely two-lane highway leading to my destination was now bustling with oil-field trucks, pump-jacks, new refineries and hotels, and clouds of grey haze. But fortunately, my ideal locale was as I remembered–– craggy mountains graced by long stretches of prickly pear cactus and mesquite scrub, remote and raw. Perfect for a mystery or suspense.

Once there, I bee-lined to the local diner and feasted on the house special, green chili burgers and thick-cut fries. I chatted with the owner and her employee. (Yes, just one.) They shared how the clear night sky bursts into sparkles of light, where one gets mail and supplies, and how chili cook-offs and cow patty throwing contests are a ‘thing.’ Of course, Elizabeth and Debbie will find a place in my book’s acknowledgments!

Roadblocks. No one likes a data dump. Weave your discoveries into the novel and never let it rise above the plot, characters, and setting. A bit of true-life flavor goes a long way

Don’t use fact-finding as a means to delay writing.

Complete your searches ahead of time. If you need to add a detail later make a note, but keep the writing flowing.

Let research inform the story, not smother it. Do the work. It may be the difference between a book contract and a rejection letter.

“Though we invent tales that didn’t really happen, we drape them over a framework of real-life facts.”

Chuck Sambuchino

Write well, my friends.

PJ Gover

PJ Gover encourages her readers to live the thrill…one story at a time, whether through her devotionals or thrillers. She has received ten writing awards including first place in American Christian Fiction Writer’s First Impressions contest, the North Carolina Christian Writers, and the Write-to-Publish contest. Her one-year devotional book, Celebrate Thee Date, can be found at 4homestore .

A ranch in Texas serves as home base where she is currently working on a suspense novel. Offer her Mexican food or anything gluten-free and you’ll have a friend for life. Jim Hart of Hartline Literary Agency represents PJ.

Connect with PJ at PJGover.com or facebook.com/pj.gover