[Forest]

I have dabbled in writing within several different genres in fanfic during the past few years, but the one I have never gone near; even with a bargepole is the thriller.

I have never had much confidence in starting writing a thriller fic because frankly, I do not have even the basic knowledge of what goes into writing one - and making it good.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

~Forest

[SpaceWeavil]

What sort of a thriller is it? Supernatural, spy thing, psychological etc.? Is it primarily action based, or a mystery sort of thing?

[DarkElfChilde]

This is my favorite genre...thriller...but mostly horror stories (but mine are original stories and not in the LotR fandom). What I can tell you if you're wanting to try writing one is to start out with a supernatural thriller, and then work your way up the ladder to the other types of thrillers and/or horror.

Any questions or if you need help, pm me or tell me here.


- DEC

[SpaceWeavil]

[Forest]

Thanks for the prompt replies. I was thinking more along the lines of suspense/psychological and possibly with a twist. You know, the kind that messes with your head, but still makes you want to read on.

~Forest

[DarkElfChilde]

That was just my opinion, not so sure how other thriller/horror writers started out, but for me I liked reading about haunted houses, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and all that stuff. I liked those and wanted to write my own, and that was when I was 12. I wrote a lot of those, and then started going to different areas as I was getting used to writing how characters react to each other and situations that would scare them...and maybe a lot too.

With my horror series that I'm working on now, 4 years ago I was thinking about having the main character be an "evil" one instead of being the good guy, it's a long story actually of why he's evil, which he never started out that way, and the town he lives near has it's dark secrets and the older people (starting with the seniors in the high school) are as evil as he. He can't leave the place that they've cursed him to stay at, and people go to his "territory" to see if the stories about him are true, but end up being killed by him. They could leave sure, but they can't because the land where they live is sacred to them and if they do end up leaving, the town officials would kill them to not let their secret out. It's a different kind of horror that I thought would be interesting to write, and hopefully others would enjoy reading it. I'm working on the site, and I have written up his profile (which can explain about him more because there's a lot to say).


- DEC

[SpaceWeavil]

[SpaceWeavil]

[DarkElfChilde]

I tested my story at fictionpress.com to see what people think of it, and I did get reviews but not as many that I thought I would get. There's a lot of people that go there, but unfortunately they prefer other genres other than horror. I think it would've done better if I submitted it to a site that only hosts horror fiction, which I need to find the link so I can give them my site link once I get everything that needs to be there for people to view. I prefer my readers to be 17 and over because well, I can be descriptive when I write my scenes, especially a fight scene. I'm hoping that when I get at least one story done in the series, that I can go ahead and find a publisher that would find interest in it, and publish my work (artwork included).

As far as I know, fictionpress.com is sort of a good place to see what people think, but I think there's too many kids there, and people who aren't interested in horror. You'll be lucky enough to get any reviews. I think your story would be interesting SW; I wouldn't mind reading it.


- DEC

[SpaceWeavil]

[DarkElfChilde]

http://www.writerswrite.com is a good resource site that I like to go to.

[Ningloreth]

I think you should just go for it, Forest. My first story actually started as a romance and I went back and added the murder element later.

Now I try to give all my stories a thriller element because I love detective stories, and lateral thinking puzzles, and because I used to love The X Files and realised that I wanted to do something similar myself... For the second story I developed an 'X-Files' technique that I've used ever since (because I'm a bit superstitious).

I start off with a few ideas, such as "Yuletide celebrations", "A missing person" (I'd been watching MIA), "A wicked uncle", "Gothic horror" (Minas Tirith looks the part), "A boar hunt" (suggested by Sir Gawain and the Green Knight), "A brothel"... And a very basic plot: Eomer's secretary's sister came to Minas Tirith to marry her betrothed and disappeared. Legolas and Eowyn try to find her...

I write the first chapter like a self-contained short story, just setting the scene and the atmosphere, and getting to know the characters, but, if possible, I make it end with the first big 'event'.

In chapter 2 (the hardest chapter) I start the story proper.

For the next four or five chapters I give the characters free rein to say and do whatever they like and I just follow them, doing what SpaceWeavil advised, thinking, "If X was attacked by Y, knowing what X is like, what would he do? Why would he do it?" I also keep lists and maps and timetables, etc, so that I can easily work out what's going on.

About half way through the story (chapter 5 - 7 ish) I start to think really hard, trying to solve the mystery. It's hair-raising (especially if you've already started posting) and involves a lot of walking about in the dark and talking to yourself. But, for me, this method has two advantages:

- since I'm working from 'the clues' the solution should be consistent. (Here it pays to have a few chapters in hand, so that you can always go back and edit minor details before you post, perhaps making the odd clue more prominent if you have to).

- if I'm surprised the reader should be too! (I can't imagine how you would judge things like suspense and surprise if you planned them out meticulously before you wrote them).

Though I usually have a general idea how things may turn out, they seldom do. In The lady vanishes, for example, I had originally intended for the hero to be a character called Eowulf (hence the lovely name). But there came a point when I realised that the noble person the other characters had described would never have left 'the lady' in so much danger... Unless he was dead. And it really hurt to kill him off

But, at the same time, one of the other characters, Berkin, who I'd orginally imagined rather like Rowan Atkinson in Blackadder I, (hence the silly name), suddenly said, "No way! I'm Artemis Fowl!"

I think that, once you get going, the story is so central to your thinking that your mind makes connections without you realising it.

In this particular case, I needed to think of some evidence that would establish the villain's guilt beyond doubt. I'd already had his paid assassin tell Aragorn that he took the jewellery from his victims to prove that he'd killed them. At the time, I just wanted to show that he was a ruthless bastard. But a few chapters later, when Gimli asked Berkin what evidence he had that his uncle had killed his parents, Berkin reached into a leather pouch and drew out his parents' wedding rings - and took me completely by surprise.

It made me feel like a real writer!

(Then I went back and I changed all Berkin's early references to 'finding documents' to 'finding evidence').

[SpaceWeavil]

I have a kind of sporadic way of plotting out mysteries/ murder stories whenever I've done it. I always start with the initial premise, like in one story I did (non LOTR) called 'Old Ghosts', the premise I started with was that my main char's wife had disappeared years before, and twenty years later, when some buliding work was going on, they found her. Then I add complications, twists and stuff.

What I have sometimes done is made a little 'mind map' thing for my murder mysteries, where you have your victim's name in the centre, and then branch out to all the different people related to them, how they knew each other, any problems between them etc. It's a good way, if you haven't already worked it out, to figure out who you're going to have as the murder.

Also with Old Ghosts, because the timing was really important in regards 'clues' and evidence, so that I had to make sure the characters didn't discover everything too quickly, I used to keep a little plan of where everyone was and what they were doing. Helped work out who went where as well.

With a murder mystery, I think a good deal of the impact comes from pace, in revealing little bits here and there, enough to keep a reader intrigued and guessing without either giving it all away in the first chapter, or boring them senseless.

One thing though with mysteries that I found is to try and avoid having 'plot device' characters; i.e. people who are only there to deliver certain bits of information. If you need someone to give a bit of exposition, you have to make sure they have a character in their own right, with their own backstory etc. (which doesn't necessary have to go into the story, but which will help you develop them).

Hope some of this rubbish I keep spouting is actually helpful