Ten Tips For Thrilling Fiction

3)  TONE  -  Different from voice.  What is the tone? Lighthearted; Serious; Angry; Sensual; etc...  Your prose controls this.

 

4)  SCENE - Can the reader see it?  Sight; Sound; Smell; Texture; Taste.  The setting.

 

5)  STORY - Does the scene move the story forward or enhance a character?  Use your research sparingly.

 

6)  CONFLICT - Is there conflict or some level of tension in (nearly) every scene?

 

7)  Stay mostly in your main character's POV to keep your reader grounded.

 

8)  Keep things mostly visual, don't get too cerebral.

 

9)  Less is more -- don't do your reader's thinking for him/her.  Avoid over-description.

     Keep it simple -- don't show off to your reader.  Use adverbs and adjectives sparingly.

 

10) Write for your reader, not for yourself.

 

IMPORTANT NOTE:  In a good movie, you don't notice the directing.  In a good book, you don't notice the writing.

 

 

1)  P.O.V.:  This can be one of the most difficult aspects of writing.  Instinct often plays a major role in deciding whose POV you should use.     

 

What is a POV character?  In a nutshell, a POV character is a character from whose view we are seeing the world in your story.  Everything is from his/her perspective.  You may have 20 named (or unnamed) characters in your book, but not many of them will be POV characters.

 

Another thing, you can break any rule, as long as it makes sense and works.  In my debut novel, the beginning is omniscient before moving into the villain's POV.

 

Most beginning novelists make what I call "POV violations."  They've suddenly jumped out of the current POV character and jumped into another.  It's confusing to your reader, even if the reader has a sense of what you're doing.  A telephone conversation is a classic example.  If you're narrating from one side of the conversation and you tell the reader what the person on the other side is doing (scratching his head,) that's a POV violation.  Your POV character can't know what the person on the other end is doing (or thinking.)  Your POV character can hear activity on the other end, but he can't see it.  Everything is narrated from what your POV character sees or perceives!

 

In mystery/thriller, and in most mainstream fiction, it's better not to have more than 5-6 POV characters.  Of course you can have more than 6, but your job as a writer becomes increasingly more difficult as you add more POV characters.  There are no absolutes, but you run the risk of confusing your reader.

 

Remember, your reader needs to be firmly grounded within your hero's POV.  Try to stay mostly in your hero's POV.  If you leave him, don't wait too long before bringing the reader back to him.

 

If you write in first person, you're always in your hero's (or villain's) POV, so it's not difficult deciding whose POV to use!

 

But if you write in third person, you have decisions to make.  Generally speaking, it's best to narrate from the POV of the character with the least amount of knowledge of what's going on.  It's not always true, but it can help to create suspense and tension within a scene.  The reader will also wonder what's going on.

 

Lastly, treat POV as a precious commodity.  YOU WASTE AN OPPORTUNITY to deepen a character by narrating from a distance.  Stay in close, stay tight.  Think of your narrator as a tiny man (or woman) sitting on the shoulder of your POV character.  He's his best friend and knows everything going on in your character's head. 

 

 

2)  VOICE:  This is your unique style as a writer.  It develops over a long period of time and it can't be forced.  It happens on its own.  It's often subtle, but it's always recognizable.  Stephen King has a distinct voice as a novelist.

 

 

3)  TONE:  This is your mood setting tool.  If you're writing a sensual scene, your prose should reflect it with longer, more flowing style.  If the mood is tense or critical, then your sentences are shorter, choppier.  If your POV character is angry, use words in narration to reflect it.  The same applies with a happy character.  If you don't do this, and you narrate with the same tone throughout the book, it becomes flat and boring.

 

 

4)  SCENE:  This is a tool used to ground your reader.  You have to give your reader a sense of the surroundings, the setting.  If it's a public park, what kind of park?  Describe a few things to give your reader a sense of place.  Trees?  Grass?  Playground equipment?  Here's an example:

 

TEXTURE:  Tables and benches with graffiti carved into the wood.  A park with graffiti carved into tables is quite different from a park without it.  Try to give just a touch detail here and there.  It doesn't take much, but it's an effective tool to give the reader a sense of place.  Maybe your villain is wearing a Pittsburgh Steelers sweatshirt.  It's especially telling if he happens to be a steel worker.  It adds another layer of depth to your character or novel.

 

SIGHT is self explanatory, but remember to narrate from your POV character's perception of the scene.  

 

SMELL.  In the public park example, it could be a hotdog cart, or the freshly cut grass.  Don't go overboard, just give the reader a hint of it.  Don't do it all at once.  Work your five senses in throughout the scene, not right at the beginning.  You may be in dialogue when your POV character notices the smell of the hotdog cart and realizes he's hungry.

 

If the smell is critical to the story, it deserves more page space, like the smell of smoke in a high-rise apartment building!

 

SOUND.  In a park, it's seagulls, a dog barking in the distance.  Children laughing and playing.  A street musician.  A city maintenance truck.  Try not to make it a random sound, maybe the city maintenance truck will play a role in the scene later on.  Sounds can be random, and often are for setting, but don't waste and an opportunity to enhance the scene with a meaningful sound.

 

The same with TASTE, use this one sparingly though.

 

 

5)  STORY:  There's a rule of thumb:  If your scene doesn't advance the story or enhance a key character, DELETE IT!  In a thriller especially, you don't want to grind the action the halt.  It's the kiss of death in this genre.  Stay pretty close to the trunk line of your story.  If you leave it, get back to it as quickly as you can.  Remember, just because you like a particular scene and it was fun to write, you're reader may be bored with it.  You're less likely to go wrong if you stay on the trunk line of your story.

 

6)  CONFLICT:  My other article, "Defining the Thriller Hero," goes into detail about conflict in a novel.  In short, CONFLICT DRIVES YOUR STORY, without it, you don't have a compelling story.

 

7-10)  IS THE APPLICATION OF THE FIRST 6 ITEMS.

 

The bottom line:  Be aware of these key elements when you're writing the rough draft and in subsequent edits.  I do extensive editing, to the point of being sick to death of my story.  By the time I'm finished with a novel, I'm ready to drop-kick it across the room and watch all 500 pages flutter to the floor.  Unless and until you reach that point, I fear you may have more work to do.