For Thriller Writers: Be Thrilling
I hear from a lot of aspiring writers who want to tell me all about their latest book and what makes it different. And five seconds into the pitch, I already know it's not actually different at all. It's simply a rehash of what other writers have written. The same tired plot line, the same two-dimensional characters, the same climax and resolution.Therein lies the problem with a lot of people who want to write thrillers: they're not very thrilling to begin with.
Now, this isn't to say that if you want to write a thriller you need to immediately go out and join the CIA or sign up to do Selection with Delta Force.
(although it wouldn't hurt...)
Seriously, that's not exactly what I'm talking about. But as an author - as someone trying to convey an essential element in the genre: thrills - we need to have firsthand experience dealing with thrills of all manner and range. And the single best place to find those thrills is easier than you might imagine.
How many times have you heard about a mystery author sitting in on an actual autopsy? Or doing a drive-along with the police department to better understand how they operate?
Plenty.
Mystery authors know they need the element of authenticity to their work in order for the reader to come along on the ride. Thriller writers aren't exempt from that idea.
But for us, it's significantly more difficult to look up "retired special operations commando" in the phone book. The fact of the matter is that the ones who are legitimate are normally very low-key. The ones who are upfront about their pasts are usually the ones full of crap. (side note: the other day I read a story in the local paper about a guy who was a 'Black Ops Contractor' for 34 years and said it was a really compelling aspect of "law enforcement." I don't know about you, but the folks I know who actually worked in special operations or intelligence don't equate it with law enforcement at all. Something smells fishy there...)
Anyway...I digress.
The most potent resource thriller authors have is our own love of thrills. But we need to be willing to embrace that love by engaging in stuff that gets the heart pumping. There's plenty an aspiring thriller author can do without necessarily being the point man during a room clearing with the local SWAT team. What you're after is a range of experiences that you can then use in your writing to convey that adrenaline rush.
It can be something as simple as riding the roller coaster at the local amusement park. How are you feeling during the course of the ride? Make a note of the physiological differences that your body undergoes as the ride progresses. That slow ascent toward the first crest and then the sudden plunge down - how is your body handling it as it happens?
Extrapolate this idea outward even further. What do you have in your life that sets you apart from other writers? What makes you interesting? What makes your slant on writing unique?
For me, this comes down to a lot of my background in the military and martial arts. I study authentic ninjutsu, itself a fairly rare and misunderstood martial art. In 2003, I passed a rather unusual test for my 5th degree black belt given by the 34th Grandmaster of a tradition stretching back thousands of years. And the 26 years of study I've put into fighting has helped me render compelling action sequences in my various novels.
What can you do that you can inject into the pages of your books? It doesn't have to be obscure or unusual, per se, but you need to fully embrace it and realize its potential in order to give your books an authenticity all their own. Maybe you swam with sharks one time in the Bahamas. Maybe you know a lot about a particular firearm. Perhaps you were on a plane that almost crashed. Or you lived next door to a drug lab that got raided one afternoon by DEA agents as you were coming home from work. (Don't laugh, that last one happened to me...)
And in the end, you will be that much more of a thriller author, able to convey an authentic sense of thrills and adrenaline rushes that others can only mimic.
Go. Be thrilling.
But first, please grab a copy of my latest novel, THE KENSEI. :)
Many thanks to Jon for sharing some insight into what has made him so successful. Definitely stop by the Jon F Merz website, sign up for his newsletter, and keep watch on how this author continues to grow and take his rightful spot in literary history. He's the author of quite an assortment of titles, so don't stop at Kensei!
Thanks for reading everyone!
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