title: Writing the Thriller: How to Craft Page-Turning Suspense with Instruction from Best-Selling Authors
author: T. MacDonald Skillman
description: The first thing T. Macdonald Skillman sets out to do in <i>Writing the Thriller</i> is define the thriller. Unlike the mystery, she says, "Suspense is emotional. It's surprise and confusion and fear and anticipation. And suspense is danger. Immediate danger." Thrillers come in a variety of guises: action-adventures; legal, medical, techno-, and political thrillers; psychological suspense; romantic-relationship suspense; women-in-jeopardy suspense. Skillman addresses each element of fiction writing--such as setting, dialogue, and point of view--as it applies to the various types of thriller. For all thrillers, she says, it is best to begin "in the midst of the action or danger"; any subsequent back story should "add a new dimension to the suspense itself." And the pacing should be "like climbing a long, steep series of stairways.... As you cling to the railing at the bottom of the last set of stairs, your heart is pounding; your lungs are burning." Most useful here are Skillman's case studies in plotting, for which she creates eight plots (one for each type of thriller) using the same cast of characters.
zlib_text: PRAISE FOR ADAM MITZNER
  
   _Dead Certain_
  
  “ _Dead Certain_ is dead-on terrific . . . It’s an entertaining and riveting
  work that will more than hold your interest.”
  
   _—Bookreporter_
  
  “Consistently compelling . . . Adam Mitzner is a master of the mystery genre.”
  
  — _Midwest Book Review_
  
  “There are several twists and turns along the way . . . creating a big amount
  of tension . . .”
  
  — _The Parkersburg News and Sentinel_
  
  “[ _Dead Certain_ ’s] leading coincidence, which is quite a whopper, is offset
  by an equally dazzling surprise . . . It packs enough of a punch to make it
  worth reading.”
  
  — _Kirkus Reviews_
  
   _A Conflict of Interest_
  
  “A heady combination of Patricia Highsmith and Scott Turow, here’s
  psychological and legal suspense at its finest. Adam Mitzner’s masterful
  plotting begins on tiptoe and morphs into a sweaty gallop, with ambiguity of
  character that shakes your best guesses, and twists that punch you in the gut.
  This novel packs it. A terrific read!”
  
  —Perri O’Shaughnessy