Take an early look at ThrillerFest programming.

Point of View: Whose Story Is It, Anyway?

Steve Berry, Instructor

A primer on the concept of point of view---its principles, practices, and techniques. Who tells the story is as important as the story.

The Thrill of the Script

Lorenzo Carcaterra, Instructor

How writing for either television or the movies will help improve your thriller. How the rules and structures of one form can feed and nurture the other. And which "rules" should be avoided.

How Do You Create Suspense? - And Other Bad Questions

Lee Child, Instructor

It's easier than you think to keep the reader turning the pages.

Day is Night, Black is White:  Making a Hero From a Villain

Barry Eisler, Instructor

It doesn't matter whether a character is likable; she only needs to be compelling. So how do you make a thief, killer, or other bad guy fascinate the reader? Find out in this interactive lecture.

Speaking in Voices

Hallie Ephron, Instructor

n this workshop, we'll discuss why so many thriller writers use multiple viewpoints to tell their stories, and how to meet challenge of making each point-of-view character's voice unique and compelling. Clue: It's about dialogue, internal dialogue, and telling gesture. Participants will analyze examples from authors who excel at creating multiple, strong point-of-view characters, and revise passages to create strong, distinctive character voices.

The Six Biggest Mistakes Even Bestselling Writers Make

Joseph Finder, Instructor

No matter what some guides tell you, there's no sure-fire formula for writing a successful thriller.  But there are things not to do.  Here are the six biggest writing blunders that most of us commit at some time or another -- and how to avoid them.

It Was A Dark and Stormy Night: Atmosphere and Dialogue That Create The Hook That Keeps a Reader Going

Heather Graham, Instructor

In a thriller, the reader must be hooked--and feel a sense of danger and/or foreboding. Some authors accomplish this with narrative, creating the scene. Some do it with dialogue. Hands-on workshop in which both methods are studied and a first page is created that will draw the reader further into the plot. Since many editors say that their slush piles are so high they must feel something in ten pages, it's incredibly important to start off by seducing the reader right in. Includes first pages from books that prove just this point--when you pick them up, they must be read. Includes old pros--and a few new novels that really hit the target right on the nose!

Ten Surefire Ways to Amp Up Your Thriller, Patterson Style

Andrew Gross, Instructor

Using techniques learned first hand from Gross's six books with James Patterson, participants will explore the elements of pace, plotting, creating suspense and getting your readers invested in memorable characters--early on. Students will discuss classic benchmark thrillers to learn how the masters keep readers up past their bedtimes.

Software and Net Tools to Make Your Writing Pop

David Hewson, Instructor

Computers aren't a substitute for creativity, but they can take a lot of the drudgery out of writing, and help you out of a tight corner when you need it. This is a no-holds barred master class in what you need to know about writing tools, research assistants, and free stuff out on the web - and the pitfalls you face if you think technology alone can unleash the author inside you.

Writing the Unputdownable Novel

Joan Johnston, Instructor

Eight ways--strategies, methods, devices, gimmicks, gambits, schemes and tricks of the trade--to hook readers at the beginning and end of each chapter and keep them reading till dawn.

Screenwriting 101: How to Write a Screenplay That Sells

Jon Land, Instructor

Writing a screenplay is easy. Writing a good one you can sell is hard. The course will feature a nuts-and-bolts approach to the process, focusing on the elements that will maximize your ability to sell your script.

How to Storyboard Your Novel; Using Story and Character Arcs

Eric Van Lustbader, Instructor

Learn to think creatively, write effectively, and increase your understanding of story and character arcs.

Why Did They Do That?: The Psychology of Character Thought, Action, and Dialog

D. P. Lyle, MD, Instructor

The strength of every story, regardless of genre, lies in the characters that populate the fictional landscape. Developing full, realistic, and believable characters requires an understanding of the psychological drives that push them to act and react. Why do people love, hate, envy, loath, and need one another? Why do they steal, cheat, batter, and kill? Why do they argue, lie, deceive, threaten, and comfort?

The Villain Drives the Plot

Gayle Lynds, Instructor

Ever wonder why some thrillers succeed better than others? Often the answer is one of the most overlooked but highly important ingredients---the villain. Learn the secrets to making yours work not only as a character but in creating the kind of plot that will excite publishers and readers until the last satisfying page.

Sorry, Your Thriller Isn't Scary

Donald Maass, Instructor

Making Anything Terrifying.  A major problem with thrillers is that they don't genuinely frighten.  While that is especially true of conspiracy, genetic, virus and clone thrillers, it is fault common to virtually all suspense manuscripts.  New York literary agent Donald Maass shares his analysis of how the improbable becomes harrowing.

First Person Narrative

Steve Martini, Instructor

Getting close to your protagonist, myopia and the all important L/eye. A discussion of 'point of view', the camera lens of fiction from the first person, its limitations in the fictional universe, constraints on suspense and its limitless reach into the inner soul of your character and narrator.

Conflict: The Fuel of Your Story and Scenes

Bob Mayer, Instructor

Conflict drives your story. Not only must conflict escalate throughout the entire novel, every single scene must have conflict in it. The Conflict Box and Lock is an effective technique for focusing your story on the protagonist, antagonist, their goals and finding out if you have the necessary conflict lock.

Basic Mistakes That Most Beginning Writers Make

David Morrell, Instructor

With emphasis on description and dialogue, David talks about common writing mistakes and shows how they are easily corrected. He will also talk about general career mistakes.

Beyond the Blue Pencil: What Editors Do AFTER Your Book Is Perfect

Neil Nyren, Instructor

Once the book is polished and glowing like a little gem, what do you then? It's estimated that approximately 250 books are published every working day. How do you cut through the noise? That's all part of the editor's job as well -- because he can't just be an editor, he has to be a publisher and be aware of what every department in the house, and the author, needs to know and needs to do to make that book successful.

How to Write an Action Scene

James Rollins, Instructor

A blow-by-blow workshop on how to orchestrate action on the written page.

Cinematic Techniques That Will Make You a Better Storyteller

Tom Sawyer, Instructor

Stuff every writer, whether novelist, playwright or screenwriter, should have in the bank, from creating enigmatic bad guys, to "writing to the money," the "Less is More Test," to Thinking in Pictures and much more.

Bonus Workshop

Learn How to Pitch Your Book

Kathleen Antrim and Bob Mayer, Instructors

Can you hook an agent, editor or a reader on your book in 25 words of less?  In this workshop, we will teach how to craft a pitch that will help you not only hook an agent, but this pitch may also be used when:

» Your agent is selling your book to an editor

» The editor is explaining your book to the sales/marketing team

» The sales/marketing team is selling your book into the stores

» And you will use your pitch again and again, when folks ask you what your book is about

Come prepared to work on a pitch for your current project.

Bonus Workshop

What I Wish I Knew When I Was Starting Out

Joseph Finder, Instructor

Doctors go to med school. Lawyers go to law school. In just about every profession, when you're starting out, someone shows you the ropes--except when you're a writer: We have to figure it out for ourselves the hard way. Here are the top rules for making it in the thriller-writing business that I wish someone had told me when I was a rookie.

Bonus Workshop

The Autopsy of a Thriller: A Critical  Dissection of The Terminator

D. P. Lyle, MD, Instructor

In this class we will learn the elements that make a thriller thrilling, and will perform a scene by scene analysis of the one thriller that every thriller writer should know intimately.

Bonus Workshop

Pre-Buzz Workshop

M.J. Rose and Doug Clegg, Instructors

Topic Description to be furnished.