Writers Chat, hosted by Johnnie Alexander, Brandy Brow, and Melissa Stroh, is the show where we talk about all things writing, by writers and for writers!
“Because talking about writing is more fun than actually doing it.”
The Third Path with Eva Marie Everson
In this episode, Eva Marie shares her love for prayer labyrinths and a journey to better understanding of this ancient practice. Research and journaling ultimately led her to write The Third Path: Finding Intimacy with God on the Path of Questioning. Then Eva Marie leads us in an exercise to answer Jesus’ questions, “What do you want?” and “What do you want Me to do for you?” If you desire a way of knowing God and ourselves at a deeper level, be sure to catch this week’s replay.
Watch the October 31st Replay.
Eva Marie Everson is the CEO of Word Weavers International. She is a bestselling, multiple award-winning writer of both fiction and nonfiction. In 2022, she was awarded the Yvonne Lehman Legacy Award and the AWSA Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2023, her work Our God is Bigger Than That won the ECPA Gold Medallion (children’s) and her work The Third Path won the AWSA Book of the Year. She and her husband live in Central Florida. They are parents and grandparents . . . and they are owned by a cat named Vanessa.
Whydunit: The 4 Motives to Mysteries with Jane Kalmes
Jane, a mystery author and “Fiction Technician” joins us to talk about the four primal motives behind cozy mysteries. She also walks us through three easy steps to quickly plot a mystery. Then shares a terrific definition for “plot twist,” and discusses other hallmarks of a cozy mystery, including guidelines for developing a series’ sleuth. This episode is for any writer intrigued by the mystery genre.
Watch the November 7th replay.
Jane Kalmes is the author of the Kitty Callahan Mysteries, set in Jazz Age Chicago. She’s also the voice behind YouTube’s largest repository of mystery writing know-how. On her eponymous channel, she breaks down plot twists, motives, mystery structure, and more.
Writers Chat is hosted live each Tuesday for an hour starting at 10 AM CT / 11 AM ET on Zoom. The permanent Zoom room link is: http://zoom.us/j/4074198133
When I sat down to write my first mystery, I knew I needed a guide. I’d written a few historical novel manuscripts, so I knew the basics of writing good scenes and solid plots. But every genre has their specific tropes and techniques. I wanted to know the particular aspects of a novel that mystery readers expected.
For guidance, I turned to Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel by the bestselling mystery writer Hallie Ephron (sister to Nora, Delia, and Amy Ephron). With this book as my guide, I was able to write an award-winning mystery on my very first try. It might be a great resource for you, too.
How I created a mystery series from scratch
This comprehensive book provided me with the roadmap I needed to write a great mystery novel, and also helped me set the foundation for a series. Looking back, I see how I would have struggled to create a satisfying mystery plot if I hadn’t used this book to guide me during the planning stage. Here are some tidbits specific to crafting a mystery that I helped me develop a stronger plot:
“How many suspects do you need? At least two (plus the true villain) will keep the reader guessing. More than five and it feels like a parlor game.”
“Minor characters who are part of the wallpaper for the first twenty-eight chapters can’t be promoted to villain status at the end just to surprise the reader.”
“Hidden secrets are what propel a mystery novel forward. Everyone has them—the victim, innocent suspects, and the villain. The revelation of a secret sends the murder investigation in a new direction.”
“When you pick a profession for your protagonist, keep in mind that the less likely your sleuth is to trip over a dead body, the more you’ll have to work to establish a believable reason for him to investigate the murder.”
Since my novels are set in the New Testament era, I couldn’t take the easy route and make my sleuth a police officer or a lawyer. But the concept made me aware that I had to work extra hard to create believable scenarios that compel my sleuth to investigate murders.
Creating an awesome sleuth
In addition to advice on plotting, the book is filled with great information on developing complex, believable characters. The author provides questions and charts that help a writer consider character building from many angles—many of which could be just as helpful to writers of other genres.
Here are a few that intrigued me:
“Are there things your character has to do that he hates? A reporter who dreads making cold calls? A police officer who hates target practice? Contradictions make for interesting characters.”
“Characters who aren’t what they seem to be at first blush intrigue readers. … Create a disconnect between your character’s physical presence and true capabilities. Then mine the gap. Through plot and action, reveal who your character really is.”
“By understanding how the villain justifies the crime to himself and what events in his life triggered these crimes, you give yourself the material you need to get past a black-hatted caricature and paint your villain in shades of gray.”
Writing mysteries means characters under pressure
One of the sections I found particularly helpful focused on how characters behaved under duress. Due to the nature of a mystery novel, the main characters often find themselves in stressful situations. They will be lied to. They will be in danger. Or, they may be falsely accused or have their honesty questioned.
On top of that, a sleuth and her sidekick will be exposed to crimes. They will interact with others who have been injured, duped, or otherwise mistreated. Thus, both my sleuth and many of the people she interacts with are not behaving at their best.
Therefore, I appreciated the exercises that considered how my characters would react in hypothetical situations that would stress them. The book offers a series of questions that vary in intensity from getting a bad haircut to discovering their best friend has been embezzling.
As with many of the exercises in the book, the majority of the scenarios aren’t directly relevant to a story set in first century Rome. However, a writer can use the book’s questions as examples of the kinds of situations a character of any era or setting might find themselves in.
In summary
Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel by Hallie Ephron is a valuable resource for a writer who wants to try writing in the mystery or suspense genres. It’s filled with helpful questions, exercises, and advice that will help you as you develop characters, plots, and crimes.
Even if you aren’t planning to write a mystery, give this book a read. It provides loads of good advice on writing an intriguing plot and developing complex, satisfying characters.
Final Note: I have the original edition of this book. I’m sure the newer revised and expanded edition is even better.
Lisa E. Betz is an engineer-turned-mystery-writer, entertaining speaker, and unconventional soul. She inspires others to become their best selves, living with authenticity, and purpose, and she infuses her novels with unconventional characters who thrive on solving tricky problems. Her Livia Aemilia Mysteries have won several awards, including the Golden Scroll Novel of the Year (2021).
She and her husband reside outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with Scallywag, their rambunctious cat—the inspiration for Nemesis, resident mischief maker in her novels. Lisa directs church dramas, hikes the beautiful Pennsylvania woods, eats too much chocolate, and experiments with ancient Roman recipes. Visit lisaebetz.com.
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.
Influencers are all the rage into today’s social media world—something not too difficult with all the avenues to reach millions of people. A more impressive influencer? A young lady who influenced millions of readers and writers in the mystery realm to this very day—Nancy Drew. Many mystery/thriller writers today, especially females, cite Nancy Drew as the first influence in their love of mystery. Carolyn Keene was our hero for bringing her to life.
Where were you when you found out there was no Carolyn Keene? Did a little piece of your heart fall off? From Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams to the line of ghost writers who continued to evolve Nancy to fit the era, we had no idea. It was a mystery happening we knew nothing about. First conceived by children’s book mogul and Harriet’s father, Edward Stratemeyer in 1929, Nancy Drew was a continuation of his multiple successful series that included The Bobbsey Twins and Hardy Boys series. Responsible for the outlines as authors, ghostwriters filled in the stories that thrilled the young girls waiting eagerly at their local library or bookseller for the latest release.
Little did we know about the heroic efforts the Edward Stratemeyer heirs put into creating personas for the Carolyn Keene pseudo name which included personal stationary and a biographical background. Even some of the well-known authors of the day had no idea their invitations to various functions were not going to a real person.
Nancy taught us to keep our heads above water in every situation. She knew how to dress, when to plunge forward and when to pull back, when to let her anger give to the bad guys and when to remain quiet. She had what we wished we had—a great car, the ability to sew, draw, have great friends, make her allowance last the exact amount of time until the next one came, and oh yes, solve mysteries. (How exciting!)
And Nancy evolved. From World War II to the Age of Aquarius and beyond, she managed to stay current with updates. It was in the 1960s and 70s when the original 34 volumes were edited to be shorter with tighter plots. Another 22 books were added to the series. As a 1960’s Nancy Drew reader, I can’t relate to the current renditions made into TV series. I suppose, every era feels the same about “The Nancy” that encased their childhood. We want her to stay just as she was when she influenced us.
Because of Nancy, can we ever see an antique clock and cabinet and not be drawn to look for secret compartments? Aren’t we always on the hunt for secret passageways in old buildings? If you hear rumors of a “ghost” somewhere, don’t you want to go look for the conman behind the story?
Nancy also taught us to leave a note if we are off on an adventure, so those who care about us won’t worry. With Nancy, we knew we wanted faithful friends in life we could count on like Bess and George. Never give up is a famous saying, but Nancy lived it in every adventure. No matter which trap door she fell through, she didn’t give up when it came to getting herself out of the situation. Lipstick in your purse? Always. You never know when you might need it to write a message on a mirror. And, oh, it’s always a good idea to look good with that lipstick, too. There are people to meet and mysteries to solve.
Now, as authors, we know there are mysteries to write to engage the readers out there the way “Caroline Keene” engaged us. So, good luck to all the current influencers. You’ll have a tough time keeping up with the one and only Nancy Drew!
Michele Olson writes stories set on Mackinac Island in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula filled with suspense, romance, friendship, faith, and quirky characters. A top seller in Mackinac Island Fiction to the million people who make a trip to the island every year to experience life with no cars, amazing scenery, and the glorious Grand Hotel, she enjoys opening up this incredible island to even more visitors. Incorporating her work as an artist and a voice professional into her writing whenever she can, she enjoys creative endeavors of all genres and Fueling Faith with Fiction™. Michele lives in the shadow of Lambeau Field in Green Bay, WI, with her husband and thoroughly enjoys being a wife, mom, and “Gee Gee” to two adorable grandsons.
How many times have you read a book or watched a movie and thought to yourself: that could never happen! Fiction is filled with stories we know would never happen. But there’s always been a fine line of what we will or won’t accept in our subconscious in stories leaning toward real life. Covid has done a subtle brain segue to all of us. Did we really believe watching Dustin Hoffman in the 1995 film Outbreak that a deadly virus could take over as it did? Wasn’t the excitement palatable because deep down we couldn’t conceive of it taking place? We read mystery/thriller novels and see movies because we want to experience pseudo-trauma with no prospect of living it in real life. I mean, winter looks enticing in the movies and on the page, but sludging through it year after year is less than ideal!
Now we have an unwelcome greater sense that all of the ugliness is possible. And we’re not reading about it in someone else’s life. We’ve lived it. We’ve seen too many things happen rapidly that most people alive today have never experienced. Only those who remember World War I and II can relate to the constant fight and flight feelings that have invaded our beings, and those dear souls are few and far between.
This is true for mystery, thriller writers—even for stories set in the time before Covid. If you’ve ever axed a plot, you liked but thought wouldn’t be possible, that has changed. The public will now believe things can change quickly in America because we saw it happen. The government can lock down countries, including countries throughout the world. Vaccines can become political, controversial and make neighbor rise up against neighbor. The essence of what we experienced has opened our thoughts up that what was once unthinkable, can happen.
Could it be that some of the greats did push boundaries because they, too, were living in a “fight or flight” atmosphere in their real lives? Think Agatha Christie. In 1914 she was one of the 90,000 Voluntary Aid Detachment nurses enlisted to help with the war, tending to seriously wounded soldiers. She also lived through the horrors of World War II, something everyone thought couldn’t happen after such a horrific first world war. It affected how she wrote. What was known as “shell shock” in her day is now what we call PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. And, not to lessen anything that someone in war or a traumatic experience is living with, everyone today probably has some feelings that fall into the trauma category simply by being alive in today’s world.
And, what about the writer’s approach to stories told after 2019? Does Covid have to be a part of every story? Are writers and readers emotionally prepared for that? How many novels will come out with Covid as crucial to the plot? How will the writers manage the emotional aspect of writing in this era? Will writers choose to skip the era all together to not deal with the pandemic? Or will intense novels appear centering on the covid heroes who gave their all in the medical field day after day?
How many years will have to be in the rear-view mirror before nostalgia, lessened awareness, and even humor can surround what we’ve been living through with Covid? Or is that left to the scribes who will continue long after we’re gone?
So many questions without answers right now. One this is sure. Covid changed our minds and our words, no matter the genre, forever.
Michele Olson writes stories set on Mackinac Island in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan filled with suspense, romance, friendship, faith, and quirky characters. A top seller in Mackinac Island Fiction to the million people who make a trip to the island every year to experience life with no cars, amazing scenery, and the glorious Grand Hotel, she enjoys opening up this incredible island to even more visitors. Incorporating her work as an artist and a voice professional into her writing whenever she can, she enjoys creative endeavors of all genres and fueling faith with fiction.
Michele lives in the shadow of Lambeau Field in Green Bay, WI with her husband and thoroughly enjoys being a wife, mom, and “Gee Gee” to two adorable grandsons.
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.
Oh, the work you put into developing your sleuth, your investigator, your detective! Whether old or young, tall, or short, male or female, attractive or plain, rich, or poor—much thought goes into crafting this character.
At first blush, you can imagine yourself having a long happy partnership with this unique individual who will ultimately be the smartest person in the room when it comes to solving a crime. Your goal is always getting the readers to love this entity as much as you do, to join you for the long haul of seeing your star succeed.
But then, one day. You don’t like your person anymore! You didn’t think about that when you started your series and now, you’re in a pickle. That’s what happened to Conan Doyle. Most of us would die to create a character as noteworthy as Sherlock Holmes, but Doyle was bored, and he killed him off in the aptly titled “The Final Problem”. The public wasn’t tired of him, but the author was.
A mindset problem
This phenomenon can happen to any writer—when we play the brain game. The mind starts to throw out the thoughts such as “this is boring” and “it’s not good.” It comes from being behind the scenes and understanding how the sausage is made. The reader, however, isn’t having that same experience. Rather, they are not caught in the same web that has engulfed the writer’s mindset. It’s a snare that captures any writer, especially the perfectionist. The writer begins to devalue the very things that brought their work to light and are still appreciated.
Meanwhile, the reader continues to enjoy the story and feels uplifted, escapes day-to-day life, and is entertained—something they are not willing to give up because an author is yawning. You are no longer alone own in the universe you’ve created.
So, let’s get back to you as you are creating a series sleuth or detective.
Since we are in the era of ongoing series, here are some helpful questions as you begin to prevent pulling a Conan “oops.” Think ahead to stay in sync with your protagonist.
Tips for keeping your sleuth interesting
▪ Pick a character with potential. This should include personal and professional foibles. Readers want to love the person. Know their fears, interests, needs, and desires intimately so you have places to go.
▪ Your character must want to solve crimes above all. Have you put them in a position to be able to continually pursue crime? Are they a detective, police officer, or an amateur with crime solving resources? Do they have access to resources that allow them to stay in the game and possibly travel to new locations if you want to change things up?
▪ Visualize the age of your character. Can moving through stages of life help bring something new to every story? Don’t paint yourself in a corner with time.
▪ Give them some traits the reader can count on while continuing to reveal nuggets of their personality that are intriguing in every new novel.
The moral of the story? At some point, your readers become your partners in the stories you invent. Make sure you make room for loving your characters for years to come, because that’s how long you may be in business together!
Michele Olson writes stories set on Mackinac Island in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan filled with suspense, romance, friendship, faith, and quirky characters. A top seller in Mackinac Island Fiction to the million people who make a trip to the island every year to experience life with no cars, amazing scenery, and the glorious Grand Hotel, she enjoys opening up this incredible island to even more visitors. Incorporating her work as an artist and a voice professional into her writing whenever she can, she enjoys creative endeavors of all genres and Fueling Faith with Fiction™.
Michele lives in the shadow of Lambeau Field in Green Bay, WI with her husband and thoroughly enjoys being a wife, mom, and “Gee Gee” to two adorable grandsons.
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.
What is dramatic tension? Merriam-Webster states dramatic is “sudden and extreme, greatly affecting people’s emotions” and defines Tension as an “inner striving, unrest, or imbalance, often with a physiological indication of emotion or a state of latent hostility or opposition between individuals or groups.”
Put them together and you have “a sudden or extreme unrest which increases emotions, hostility, or opposition between individuals.”Talk about a page-turner. Setting characters up with this type of tension will keep readers engaged.
We could also describe it as a sudden conflict or unexpected change that blocks the character from his mental or physical goals, causing fear, stress, tension, or anger toward others or within oneself.
Dramatic action comes by blocking the goal or task at hand, disagreements or distrust between characters, a shocking, unexpected revelation, or by ramping up the element of surprise.
A myriad of scenarios can cause tension, as in these examples.
1. The hero or heroine mysteriously disappears and causes a sudden fear of the unknown.
2. An unexpected intrusion of a villain creeping through the house or an attack increases tension.
3. Rain turns to ice, making roads impassable amid a hostage situation or a high-speed chase increases frustration and blocks the character’s goal.
4. The hero assumes he’s in control of a situation, but learns he isn’t. His anger skyrockets.
5. Someone’s chasing your heroine, and she finds herself at the edge of a cliff. Does she jump and risk death or find another way of escape?
6. Answering the phone in the middle of the night. The caller breathes heavily, saying nothing or states in an eerie voice that he’s watching you.
7. A sharp knife pressing against your hero’s throat could cost him his life. How will he escape unscathed?
Give the reader a sense of trouble. Build the tension by upping the stakes and putting your characters in unexpected circumstances. The best scenes come about when every decision your character makes is bad. Whatever he does will cost him something.
Dialogue is a good way to show the emotional element and expose the internal conflict. What’s going on inside your character’s head during this intense situation? Some inner thoughts spill out in a heated discussion. Ramping up the drama and maintaining unresolved tension keeps readers intrigued.
Using the five senses is another great way to intensify dramatic tension. The smell of rubber burning, a sour taste of clabbered milk, the sound of a growl close by or a shot fired, seeing a shadow slip passed the window when you’re home alone, or touching the gooey slime on the cold doorknob.
Anytime one or more of these senses enters the picture, readers relate to what your character experiences. They keep turning the page until the risks subside and their desire for an acceptable end is in sight.
Loretta Eidson writes romantic suspense. She has won and been a finalist in several writing contests, including first place in romantic suspense in the Foundations Awards at the 2018 Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference, a finalist in ACFW’s 2018 Genesis, was a finalist in the 2018 Fabulous Five, and a double finalist in the 2017 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence.
Loretta lives in North Mississippi with her husband Kenneth, a retired Memphis Police Captain. She loves salted caramel lava cake, dark chocolate, and caramel Frappuccinos.
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.
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.
A deranged killer on the loose terrorizing your hero and heroine.
A madman who won’t back off.
A serial killer stalking his next victim.
Take your pick. The bad guy (or girl) can make or break a story. The antagonist isn’t a prop but a main character whose development is often overlooked.
Villains are fun to write. Yet, as writers, we tend to focus on the protagonists, creating elaborate backstories for our beloved couple. However, by doing so, we miss an important detail while we think up new ways to threaten our hero or heroine. We painstakingly figure out the goal, motivation, and conflict, or maybe the wound, lie, and fear of our main characters, but we miss the ever so important reason why our villain does what he or she does.
Does your villain have a backstory explaining the reason he or she has become a killer? We cannot forget to focus on the why.
The serial killer was neglected by his mother, and now he hunts and kills women he perceives to neglect their children. He transfers his feelings to these women to exact revenge on his mother.
Or the arsonist’s business partner finds out he’s dealing drugs through their company. He kills his partner and sets fire to cover up the crime and destroy the body. The hero or heroine unknowingly sees the bad guy, causing the arsonist to eliminate the witness.
Maybe the stalker was rejected by his high school sweetheart, and he is determined to exert power over any woman that reminds him of his first love.
Don’t shortchange your villain. Give him or her a solid backstory. And in the process of discovering the why, don’t forget to create weaknesses or vulnerabilities in the villain. By doing so, we can make the bad guy or girl human in the reader’s eye. This allows your reader to connect with your killer in a love/hate relationship or to feel sorry for the poor chump who’s out to wreak havoc on your hero and heroine.
So, go ahead, interview your bad guy. Discover your villain’s secret from his or her past? Find out what makes him tick. Make him or her human.
Remember, villains, are important people too.
What method do you use to create a villain that your readers love to hate?
Sami Abrams grew up hating to read. It wasn’t until her 30’s that she found authors that captured her attention. Now, most evenings you can find her engrossed in a Romantic Suspense. In her opinion, a crime and a little romance is the recipe for a great story.
Sami has finaled 15 times in writing contests, including receiving first place in American Christian Fiction Writer’s Genesis Contest in 2019 and Faith Hope and Love’s Touched By Love Awards in 2018. She lives in Northern California, but she will always be a Kansas girl at heart. She has a love of sports, family, and travel. However, a cabin at Lake Tahoe writing her next story is definitely at the top of her list.
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.
The creeper. The serial killer. The diabolical mastermind. The psychotic killer. And villains with a skewed sense of justice.
Does your bad guy (or girl) really know who he or she is?
Thanks to a friend’s advice, I have a list of ways that my antagonist can attempt to kill my hero or heroine. I simply go down the list and pick my favorites for that story. Yes, I am that devious. LOL! However, I’ve learned that I can’t pick at random. I must make thoughtful choices.
Whether you love them or hate them, villains must be true to who you’ve created them to be. Do you know who they are and what they want?
Not long ago, I received feedback from an editor. She liked the overall plot of the story and my writing, but my villain had issues. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I had more to fix then just my bad guy. However, the villain, he’s the one who had an identity crisis. I soon discovered what I had done. I’d chosen a villain, even mapped out what he wanted, but I hadn’t put myself in his head.
When writing your antagonist, think like the character you’ve created. If he’s a serial killer that strangles his victims, is he suddenly going to shoot someone? If he is trying to kill a witness, is he going to ransack the victim’s home when he or she isn’t there?
Stay true to the personality and motivation of your antagonist.
Crawl into your villain’s head. Yes, it can be a creepy place. But ask yourself, how would I eliminate my prey? Put yourself in his shoes.
I’m an arsonist. I’m going to burn down buildings, not run someone off the road and shoot at them.
I’m a serial killer who’s a sniper. I’m going to shoot my victims from a distance, not sneak into their home and attempt to strangle them.
I poison people. I might track my victim’s movements so I can sneak poison into their water bottle at the gym, or coffee at work, etc. But I’m not going to hit my hero or heroine over the head with a lead pipe.
Don’t let your antagonist have an identity crisis. Always make the crime match your villain.
What type of villain is your favorite? And how do you keep him or her from having an identity crisis?
Sami Abrams grew up hating to read. It wasn’t until her 30’s that she found authors that captured her attention. Now, most evenings you can find her engrossed in a Romantic Suspense. In her opinion, a crime and a little romance is the recipe for a great story.
Sami has finaled 15 times in writing contests, including receiving first place in American Christian Fiction Writer’s Genesis Contest in 2019 and Faith Hope and Love’s Touched By Love Awards in 2018. She lives in Northern California, but she will always be a Kansas girl at heart. She has a love of sports, family, and travel. However, a cabin at Lake Tahoe writing her next story is definitely at the top of her list.
Technology today offers a wide selection of resources for writers in the form of YouTube instructional videos, simulcasts, zoom meetings, etc., as well as stacks upon stacks of how-to
books by professional and successful authors. Regardless of the genre, writing basics remain the same.
Bookstores stock genre-specific educational books. Utilizing these valuable resources will aid in effective writing. Below are some Mystery/Suspense/Thriller instructional books in my
writing library.
BOOKS:
Conflict & Suspense, by expert thriller author and writing instructor, James Scott Bell. This book offers proven techniques that help craft fiction, tap into suspenseful power, build conflict, and maximize tension.
Mastering Suspense, Structure, & Plotby Jane K. Cleland. According to the front cover, this book offers instructions on how to write gripping stories that keep readers on the edge of their seats.
Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel by Hallie Ephron provides a complete guide to writing mystery, suspense, and crime. It explains twisting the plot, creating a compelling sleuth, and much more.
Deadly Doses: a writer’s guide to poisons by Serita Deborah Stevens offers correct information about poisons, methods of administration, symptoms, and reactions.
YouTube:
YouTube videos are available, too, with a plethora of topic selections. Decide on a topic and search for the desired video. If you’re
looking for a specific person’s teaching, then add the name to your video selection. Sample videos are listed below.
ACFW.com offers member resources, writing tips, writing help, writing software, books on writing, on-line courses, and more. Join the ACFW Mystery/Suspense/Thriller Group on Facebook.
Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference:
blueridgeconference.com offers daily informative and instructional blog posts for every genre, along with Facebook Live videos targeting writing specifics. Like or join the conference Facebook page for more information.
Killer Nashville International:
killernashville.com This conference is for the criminal-minded writer and happens in Franklin, TN. Be sure to check out their Facebook page.
Serious Writer Inc.:
seriouswriter.com offers simulcasts and teaching in their Academy. The Serious Writer Club is where you’ll receive over one hundred hours of training and more.
Writer’s Police Academy/Murdercon:
writerspoliceacademy.com focuses on the mystery/ suspense/thriller writers dealing with almost every area of crime imaginable. This conference is highly sought after and sells out fast when registration opens. They have a Facebook page as well and offer Facebook Live videos.
The list of helpful resources is ongoing, but it takes training, determination, and persistence to develop mysterious, suspenseful, and thriller scenes. Attend writer’s conferences,
connect with a critique group, and join your local monthly writer meetings.
Feel free to add other helpful resources to the list.
Loretta Eidson writes romantic suspense. She has won and been a finalist in several writing contests, including first
place in romantic suspense in the Foundations Awards at the 2018 Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference, a finalist in ACFW’s 2018 Genesis, was a finalist in the 2018 Fabulous Five, and a double finalist in
the 2017 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence.
Loretta lives in North Mississippi with her husband Kenneth, a retired Memphis Police Captain. She loves salted caramel lava cake, dark chocolate, and caramel Frappuccinos.
Your opening scene has edge-of-your-seat tension, your characters are witty and full of life, the description of your setting is amazing, and your villain has just the right amount of evil. Your manuscript is perfect. Now, it’s time to win a contest and become an award-winning author. Right?
Unfortunately, new writers can be unaware that contests
are prickly little things. Kind of like a cactus. Standing on a sidewalk
admiring a cactus garden can be an amazing thing. All the beautiful shapes and
blossoms. But as we all know, they are pretty from a distance, but up-close they
can be brutal.
Many writers submit to contests and have their hopes and dreams trampled on when they don’t win or the comments received are disheartening. We’ve all heard it said that you need a thick skin to be a writer. There is no doubt about that, but part of the contest world is how you view it. Pretty or prickly. So, the question is, should you enter contests? It all depends on your purpose.
I’ve entered multiple contests. Some I’ve won,
others I didn’t make the finals. And that was with the same manuscript. That
can be frustrating to say the least. But I’ve learned a lot over the last few
years.
Enter a contest for feedback, not to win. Being a finalist or winning is an added bonus, but it’s the judges’ feedback that will help your writing.
Enter
in the appropriate category. Suspense authors usually judge suspense.
Therefore, you are getting feedback from someone who’s in the publishing
trenches of your genre. Who better to give suggestions on your suspense
elements than someone who writes suspense?
Not
all judges will like your writing. Similar to when we read novels, we have our
favorite authors and authors that we just don’t care for. Judges are like that
too. Don’t get discouraged if your entry comes back marked up by the red pen of
death. Read through the comments and pick and choose what is important. However,
if two judges tell you the same thing—It’s probably important.
Don’t
take it personally. Yes, your manuscript is your baby, but the judges aren’t
insulting you. They are trying to help improve your chances of becoming
published.
I highly recommend contests. They
can be a great learning tool. But check your reasons for entering before
hitting send. That way you won’t be disappointed with the results.
It takes courage to put your book baby out there.
So, breath deep and go for it.
What’s your biggest fear or best advice about
entering a contest?
Sami
Abrams
grew up hating to read. It wasn’t until her 30’s that she found authors that
captured her attention. Now, most evenings you can find her engrossed in a
Romantic Suspense. In her opinion, a crime and a little romance is the recipe
for a great story.
Sami has finaled 15 times in writing contests, including receiving first place in American Christian Fiction Writer’s Genesis Contest in 2019 and Faith Hope and Love’s Touched By Love Awards in 2018. She lives in Northern California, but she will always be a Kansas girl at heart. She has a love of sports, family, and travel. However, a cabin at Lake Tahoe writing her next story is definitely at the top of her list.
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.
Without a perfect bait a fisherman loses their chance in
catching a fish. They must take their time and ease that wiggly worm onto the
hook before lowering their line into the water. It’s just as important for a
writer to do the same with a novel. Forget the worms and the book will fall
flat. How can we do this? Here are some important areas we should reel in on in
order for our mystery/suspense/thrillers to be noticed and not cast back into
the lake.
Great first lines – Most readers will shop for a book by reading that
very first line. It doesn’t matter if the next chapter is amazing. If the opening
doesn’t hook, the reader will go fishing elsewhere. This is especially true for
works of suspense. We want to set up the mystery right from the first sentence.
Every word needs to be carefully chosen. We must edit and re-read the beginning
over and over until we get it right. Think about these openings. “Once upon a
time…” or “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”—Charles Dickens,
A Tale of Two Cities. These are first lines we’ve remembered over the
years. They stood the test of time and caught the reader’s attention. Let’s do
the same.
Inciting incident – What exactly is this? It’s the event that the
character is thrust into that shatters their world and changes it forever.
Doesn’t necessarily have to be action-packed, but it has to be trouble for the
main character. Loss of spouse, fired from their job, news of a health condition.
Of course, for suspense writers it could be the character is kidnapped, witnessed
a murder, found out their identity was stolen. The problem must not just
scratch the surface but be a story that is sustainable as well as develop the
character’s arc. It has to be resolved by the end of the book. Create an
inciting incident that will sink your reader into wanting more.
Introducing characters – Just like in an interview, first impressions are
extremely important. We need to give the reader reasons to like them. What
should we consider to set the hook? Descriptions are important. We don’t want
them to appear mousey or brazen. Give small snippets of personality and appearance.
The mystery will leave the reader turning the pages to find out more. How does the
character talk? What sets their dialogue apart from secondary characters? These
are areas we need to think about so the hero and heroine will stand out on the
page and make them believable.
Backstory – This is the character’s past. How did they grow up?
What traumatic event happened that affects the way they deal with the inciting
incident? Backstory is important, but we need to know the right timing of when
it should appear. Not too much in the first fifty pages—just snippets to lure
the reader. Then as the story progresses more backstory is given. However, do
it carefully. We don’t want to take the reader out of the story. Weave it in and
it will create a powerful tale.
Foreshadowing – This can be done effectively or totally fizzle in the
beginning chapter. We need to be careful how we foreshadow upcoming events.
Giving away too much robs the reader of the joy of figuring out the clues of
the thriller. They like to be surprised. However, if we don’t give at least a
hint of something to come, the reader may be disappointed and stop reading. Reel
them in with the mystery!
These are just some areas to consider in writing the first
chapter. Ending chapter one with an unanswered question will intrigue the reader
to turn that page to find out the answer.
Baiting the reader at the beginning will ensure a great catch!
Let’s get our lures right the first time by setting the hook with a powerful suspenseful
opening.
How do you set the hook? Share your thoughts on what works for
you.
Darlene L. Turner writes romantic suspense and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. She won the 2019 and 2016 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense contest. She was a finalist in the 2019 ACFW Genesis contest and won in 2017. She lives with her husband in the Forest City of London, Ontario. Darlene’s debut novel, Border Breach, will release in April, 2020 and is now available to pre-order. Click here to order.
Visit Darlene at her website, where she believes there’s suspense beyond borders
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.”
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.
According to Merriam-Webster.com, they
are herring (fish) cured by salting and slow smoking to a dark brown or red
color. What do these fish have to do with writing?
The definition goes on to explain the
term comes from “the practice of dragging a red herring across the ground,
leaving a fishy scent to throw dogs off the trail.” This action distracts the canine’s
attention from the real issue.
How fitting is it for authors to use
distractions when writing suspense, mysteries, and thrillers? What a perfect
way to throw the reader off the trail of the real villain than to place an
innocent bystander in the midst of a scene and throw the suspicion on him.
Whether we realize it or not, we see
this happening in movies and books, but we seldom associate the scene with the
term red herrings. Our characters are asked questions, but they don’t give
straight answers. Instead, they change the subject or point to someone else,
which shifts the reader’s thinking down a false trail.
Red herrings are used as writing diversions
with the purpose of misleading, or as the old cliché goes, they send people on a
wild-goose chase. Writers use them to mask the facts by keeping their
readers’ interest and distracting them from identifying the real culprit.
Example:
Roy: How did you get into my office, and
why are you searching my desk?
James: Oh, I thought this was
Albert’s office.
Roy: You’ve been here ten years, and
you know Albert’s office is downstairs.
James: Have you seen Margie today? She’s
supposed to bring doughnuts to the staff meeting.
Notice how James changed the subject and
didn’t respond to Roy’s question. Now the reader starts questioning James’
motives. The truth being, James was an innocent co-worker and had nothing to do
with the crime, but adding him as a red herring shifted the reader’s line of
thought.
Various red herring scenarios are used
in a variety of styles and genres, but we find them more often in suspense,
mysteries, and thrillers. Writers don’t normally want to reveal the villain
until the end of the story, so they create diversions. They throw the suspicion
on another person or thing. Yes. That’s right. Red herrings don’t always have
to be human. An object can be used instead.
For example, if the heroine receives
flowers and suspects who sent them but later discovers she was wrong, that person
becomes a red herring. The author intentionally used him to shift the reader’s
attention.
There are many
ways to scatter red herrings throughout our writing to keep readers from
figuring out who is guilty. Using them will create more tension, intensify the
suspense, and make a storyline more exhilarating.
Have you used a red herring in your
writing?
Loretta
Eidson writes romantic suspense. She has won and been a finalist in several writing contests, including
first place in romantic suspense in the Foundations Awards at the 2018 Blue
Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference, a finalist in ACFW’s 2018 Genesis,
was a finalist in the 2018 Fabulous Five, and a double finalist in the 2017
Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence.
Loretta
lives in North Mississippi with her husband Kenneth, a retired Memphis Police
Captain. She loves salted caramel lava cake, dark chocolate, and caramel Frappuccinos.
Voice and style can make or break an author’s novel, so how can we
make it stand out from all the rest? Style is the technical aspect of the
story while voice relies on character, point of view, and attitude (can be referred
to as tone). How can we give the reader a voice they’ll remember or a style
that will keep them reading?
The following are aspects of voice and style I’ve been learning
about from other authors. Every writer should think about these before they
start to plot their novel.
Voice
The challenge can be to write in a voice that comes across as
unique and authentic. Let’s think about the following.
Character and attitude – The tone of your story will set your novel apart if
done correctly. Your characters need an attitude as it can add emotional stake
and give the reader what they want—a cleverly woven story. If they don’t have
attitude the tale will fall flat. The author needs to show how the character is
going to deal with the issues that plague them. How will their attitude show?
It will become their distinctive voice.
POV – Most thrillers are written in first-person past tense or
third-person past tense POV. Why? Some feel first-person reads well and is a
friendlier voice. Normally first-person is the voice of the hero. Think Patrick
Bowers in Steven James’ series. He puts the reader right into Patrick’s life.
Is there a downside to using first-person? The author must stay in
that person’s POV for the entire novel, so it’s hard to show scenes with other
characters. Also, the reader may get tired of all the “I’s” throughout the
chapters.
What about third-person? Seeing the events through the eyes of a
character is like a movie camera rolling while reading. It puts the reader
directly into the story. They feel what the character feels, sees what they
see, etc. Usually in a mystery, the sleuth narrates most of the story.
Which POV is right for the author? Why not try both out on some
beta readers? Give them a snippet in both POVs and have them decide which they
like better. Once decided, the author can better plot their novel as it will
come naturally.
Style
How can style work hand-in-hand with voice? These are technical
choices authors make to weave their tale. Here are some examples of how style
can enhance your story.
Flashbacks/Background – They can add suspense for the reader. However, use
these sparingly. Too many flashbacks or background information can pull the
reader from the story, but placed in the right spot can have them turning the
pages. We’ve been told not to include background info in the first fifty pages.
If it’s necessary to add them early, just give hints to entice them.
Setting – Every suspense/mystery/thriller needs a powerful
setting. Perhaps it’s a sleepy town now plagued with intrigue or a supposed
haunted mansion. The setting is a character of its own. To see more on this
subject, see my previous post here.
Dialogue – This can make or break a novel. Dialogue needs to be
authentic, but we also don’t want to include hum-drum snippets of a conversation—for
example: “Hi. How are you?” “I’m fine, thank-you. You?” We know these types of
questions are in our everyday conversations, but they will bore the reader.
Keep dialogue snappy and moving the plot forward.
Rhythm — The use of short and long sentences can enhance the pace of a
novel. Need suspense? Use short, choppy sentences to thrust them right into the
action. Need to give the reader a break? Use longer sentences and paragraphs to
slow the pace, giving them a chance to think through all the clues. However,
don’t add too much detail. You know what they say—less is more.
These are just some areas to consider when writing a novel. Practicing
in different POVs and using the above information can make the author’s style
and voice authentic. Why not try this today?
What are your thoughts on voice and style?
Darlene L. Turner writes romantic suspense and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. She won the 2019 and 2016 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence contest. She was a finalist in the 2019 ACFW Genesis contest and won in 2017. She lives with her husband in the Forest City of London, Ontario. Darlene’s debut novel, Border Breach, will release in April, 2020 and is now available to pre-order. Click here to order.
