Welcome to the 5th installment of the thriller outlining series. If you’ve followed along from the beginning of this series, then you should be sitting with a conceptual idea for a thriller that has been expanded into a log line, and you should have at least your hero...
There is a basic recipe to creating the ideal character set for a thriller novel. Your character set must be multidimensional for your story to make an impact on your reader. Your main characters must have inner conflict, larger than life character qualities, and...
Welcome to part three of the thriller outlining series. In the first two blog posts in this series we examined the basic fundamentals of a thriller, compared and contrasted the differences between a thriller and a mystery, and learned two methods to conceptualize...
Welcome to the part 2 of thriller outlining. This process is to be both fulfilling and inspiring to you as a thriller writer. To start, we are going to discuss arguably one of the most frustrating areas for writers and, that is the creation of your original story...
Announcing a new series! Thriller Outlining From Fundamentals to Rough Draft. If you’ve ever wanted to write a thriller, but didn’t know exactly what constitutes a thriller or how to even get started, you’ve come to the right place. With this new blog series, we’re...
If there’s one thing I can get enough of, it’s fiction writing tips, and in this post, I’m going to share with you 168 of the best tips I’ve found online today, AND one new nugget I call the Story Idea Generator. Put your phones away...
When it comes to novel outlining, there is a raucous debate amongst authors. Some writers, the so-called pantsers, scoff at outlining, and prefer to just put pen to paper and write. Other writers swear by the process. The debate between the pantsers and planners will...
The front and back pages in a book are the final steps to a long creative process. Second to the cover, they are the next experience the reader has with the book. If formatted carelessly, it presents a lack of professionalism. To ensure a consistent readership...
In a previous post, we discussed the pros and cons of using an outline to guide your writing process. After some consideration, you’ve decided to use an outline as you write your very first thriller. Good for you! But now that you’ve decided to outline your novel,...
You have an idea for a great thriller. It’s been brewing for weeks inside your head and it’s finally time to come out. You sit down open Scrivener or word doc and wait for the ideas to come flowing out…and they do. The only problem is, they’re...
