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Suspense Thriller: How to Write Chase, Spy, Legal, Medical, Psychological, Political & Techno-Thrillers
Your in-depth guide to writing edge-of-the-seat suspenseThe Thriller is one of the top-selling genres for books and it’s in the top five for movies. This is the genre of assassinations, Watergate-like conspiracies, and terrorist plots. It's where we find Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne and Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon. These writers built their heroes and their stories on genre conventions developed over the last 100 years -- and you can too.
How do you write one?
The trick to writing a successful thriller novel or screenplay is to know the conventions of the genre – what elements need to be in the story and what sort of plot structure readers and viewers expect. You could spend a long time reading and watching films to learn all of this – but you don't have to, because this book gives you all the details you need.
Create a suspenseful story the way Alfred Hitchcock did itWrite a super-spy thriller like a James Bond movie or hunt-the-mole like a John Le Carré spymasterPlot a legal thriller like John Grisham or Scott Turow Scare your readers with a Robin Cook style medical thrillerThrill readers with the latest military hardware like Tom Clancy Show what happens when technology goes wrong the way Michael Crichton did itOr plumb the depths of the human psyche and write a psychological thriller like Daphne Du Maurier and Patricia HighsmithIn these pages you will see how to raise the stakes for your hero, find more than a dozen techniques for generating and increasing suspense, how to write a killer chase, and templates for the different sub-genres of suspense thriller
Look out for Mystery and Crime Thrillers in the Genre Writer series and Plot Basics by the same author
How do you write one?
The trick to writing a successful thriller novel or screenplay is to know the conventions of the genre – what elements need to be in the story and what sort of plot structure readers and viewers expect. You could spend a long time reading and watching films to learn all of this – but you don't have to, because this book gives you all the details you need.
Create a suspenseful story the way Alfred Hitchcock did itWrite a super-spy thriller like a James Bond movie or hunt-the-mole like a John Le Carré spymasterPlot a legal thriller like John Grisham or Scott Turow Scare your readers with a Robin Cook style medical thrillerThrill readers with the latest military hardware like Tom Clancy Show what happens when technology goes wrong the way Michael Crichton did itOr plumb the depths of the human psyche and write a psychological thriller like Daphne Du Maurier and Patricia HighsmithIn these pages you will see how to raise the stakes for your hero, find more than a dozen techniques for generating and increasing suspense, how to write a killer chase, and templates for the different sub-genres of suspense thriller
Look out for Mystery and Crime Thrillers in the Genre Writer series and Plot Basics by the same author
- GenresWriting
440 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 14, 2018
201 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Paul Tomlinson
19 books11 followersPaul Tomlinson writes genre fiction and books about how to write genre fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 2, 2019
Phenomenal. Paul Tomlinson has the best 'how' books on genre writing.
December 20, 2018
Excellent!!!! The author analyzes in a structured approach what makes thrillers succeed. In the process he cites Hitchcock, Grisham, John Ludlum, Dan Brown, and other authors of best-selling novels and blockbuster movies.
April 2, 2021
Extremely detailed and well researched. Great for writers in helping them have a solid foundation of genre familiarity in their work (or to play with it).
July 5, 2023
More film synopses than about writing.
The good:
- First and penultimate chapter
- Some good writing tips throughout.
The bad:
- The majority of the book consists of movie plot synopses.
- The author spends a lot of time quoting other authors and sources.
- Very little about writing, although the book focuses on movie plots to provide tropes and high-level arcs.
- The book ends abruptly with no summary or closure
If you like movies, you’ll like this book. But if you don’t like spoilers, or want a book on writing, move on.
The good:
- First and penultimate chapter
- Some good writing tips throughout.
The bad:
- The majority of the book consists of movie plot synopses.
- The author spends a lot of time quoting other authors and sources.
- Very little about writing, although the book focuses on movie plots to provide tropes and high-level arcs.
- The book ends abruptly with no summary or closure
If you like movies, you’ll like this book. But if you don’t like spoilers, or want a book on writing, move on.
January 14, 2020
Very detailed and informative
This was not just a detailed and informative read, it was very entertaining. Some instructional books are boring and hard to read. This book was easy to read and understand.
This was not just a detailed and informative read, it was very entertaining. Some instructional books are boring and hard to read. This book was easy to read and understand.
July 22, 2019
Great writing book for thrillers. I enjoyed it.
December 6, 2020
Excellent ! A new approach, new tricks...
Lots of structure.
Lots of structure.
September 25, 2023
Great insights on how to write in the spy genre.
February 15, 2021
Painfully dull and the author made a stupid political statement that turned me off to ever reading anything he writes again.
November 19, 2020
This book is worth every penny. Actually, it's a real bargain because it's ram packed with information. I don't write thrillers but do wrote about crime and space spies. Looking at a couple of characters, I guess their storythreads were thriller, and I didn't even realise it.
I'm definitely going to plan my next book using the structure suggested here for a professional spy on the run. Actually, I think I'm going to go with these methods for creating suspense and mystery for all of my next books, whether they be space opera or space fantasy. Thriller can have so many backdrops, including other planets and other politics and cultures. Thank you so much, Paul Tomlinson. I feel sure this will be one of the most helpful books for my writing career. Perhaps I can finally write to market under the title space opera techno thriller.
I'm definitely going to plan my next book using the structure suggested here for a professional spy on the run. Actually, I think I'm going to go with these methods for creating suspense and mystery for all of my next books, whether they be space opera or space fantasy. Thriller can have so many backdrops, including other planets and other politics and cultures. Thank you so much, Paul Tomlinson. I feel sure this will be one of the most helpful books for my writing career. Perhaps I can finally write to market under the title space opera techno thriller.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews