Old William was on to something there. Case in point:

Back in 2008, in Chicago, 18 year-old Hiroyuki Joho was rushing through a pouring rain to catch a train. He didn’t make it. Somehow he stepped into the path of an Amtrak clocking 70 mph. Not a pretty sight. Apparently a chunk of his torso flew a hundred feet and struck 58 year-old Gayane Zokhrabov, fracturing her leg and wrist and injuring her shoulder. Joho’s mother filed a suit against the Canadian Pacific Railway, claiming that they were negligent for not warning Joho that his Metra train was actually as Amtrak express. Okay, maybe she has a case, maybe not.

Zokhrabov then filed a civil suit against the estate of the splattered Joho, but it was tossed by a Cook County judge, who reasonably asserted that Joho could not have anticipated Zokhrabov’s injuries. You think? But now an appeals court has reinstated the case, stating “it was reasonably foreseeable” that a high speed train could kill him, shatter his body, and that his body parts could then harm someone else. I’m sure that’s exactly what he was thinking about as he raced to catch his rain.

I wonder if THIS tragic, bizarre, and, of course, accidental and unforeseeable case will lead to a lawsuit against the other driver’s estate/family or maybe the deer herd.

Whatever happened to common sense?

Is it possible to fake a coma and fool the staff looking after them? Can a coma patient be cared for at home and simply have visiting medical professionals? This would obviously make it easier to carry on the deception when required. Is it plausible that someone could surface from a coma, carry out the murder, and still maintain the wasted appearance of someone who hasn’t moved in several years?

T. Cartledge

A: All this works except for your time frame.

Comas are funny things. They can last for a few hours or many months, even years and decades. When someone begins to awaken from a prolonged coma they usually do so gradually and in fits and spurts. That is, they will begin to become restless, open their eyes off and on (at first unfocused and then more focused), move their extremities (initially without purpose but gradually progress to more purposeful movements), and then speak (progresses from non-sense or just random words and sounds until they gradually begin to communicate). Though it is possible that someone in a long-term coma could suddenly awaken and be fully alert, the progression I described above would be more likely.

He would have no memory for the time he was comatose and might or might not remember what came before. This is called retrograde amnesia. This loss of memory could go back any period of time before the incident that caused the coma—a few minutes, a few hours, days, months, years, or forever. And his memory of previous events might be partial, spotty, or complete. It may return slowly over days, weeks, or months or very quickly. All is possible.

This is very general and each person reacts differently. This process from first arousal to full wakefulness might take a few hours, days, weeks, or months. This process is highly variable, but in general, the longer the coma, the slower the return to normal.

Yes, he could fake the coma but the problem is that with his slipping out of the coma slowly and erratically, he would not be “with it” enough to fake it and to enter into a conspiracy with another person. This takes full control of his faculties and that’s just not the case with long-term comas. But once he was fully awake and ware he could fake his coma.

Yes, a coma victim could be treated at home and this is not uncommon. It often requires special care but this is available. The main thing is that he is fed, kept well hydrated, moved frequently to prevent bed sores.
If he were indeed in a long-term coma, he could not simply wake up, get out of bed, and go kill someone. It would take weeks before he could even walk. That’s the problem I have with your time frame. Besides all the things above about awakening from a long-term coma, a coma of several years would cause severe muscular wasting in the victim. It would take weeks or months of physical therapy and strength training before he could go out and harm someone.

But, if you make the coma only a few days or a few weeks, then he could awaken quickly, fake his coma, and then have the strength to sneak out and do the deed.

In parts I and II of this series, we discussed the importance of showing tension on every page of your novel; specifically, creating a gripping opening, using bridging conflict, leaving out the boring bits, and making every scene compelling. Here, we’ll take it one step further to give tips on creating complex characters with complex problems, continually complicating the issues and raising the stakes, and writing a satisfying conclusion.

Create a complex, many-faceted, determined, sympathetic protagonist

Readers won’t start to worry about a character they don’t care about. Make your main character interesting, multidimensional, determined, clever, and likeable – but with inner conflicts – and give readers enough detail about him early on to make them empathize with him and start to bond with him.

Create complex problems with escalating conflict
The more complex and challenging the problems your protagonist faces, the more compelling a read it will be for your readers. And as your hero struggles to overcome the odds, raise the stakes even more. As Jessica Page Morrell says, “As your protagonist becomes more and more entangled in obstacles, make certain that what he fears most is on the stage. […] Then, as these fears are exposed, toss a wrench into his plan.”

And his problems and conflicts need to be difficult and complex enough so readers don’t see an immediate solution, which would dissipate all the tension. As Donald Maass says, “Easy-to-solve problems are easily forgotten. Complex conflicts, on the other hand, stick in our minds, nagging for our attention.”

Also, in terms of fiction technique, Maass specifies, “conflict must undergo complication. It must twist, turn, deepen and grow. Without that constant development, a novel, like a news event, will eventually lose its grip. To break out, simple plot structures need high stakes, complex characters, and layered conflicts.”

So how can you improve the plot of your breakout novel and make it more compelling? According to Maass, the solution is to “make conflict deeper, richer, more layered, more unavoidable, and more inescapably true.”

“In breakout fiction, the central conflict is as deep and as bad as it can possibly be.” – Donald Mass

The problems also need to be serious enough, and the antagonist clever, determined, and nasty enough that they’re worthy of your hero, so he’s sufficiently challenged to create a compelling story, and his struggle results in definite character development and growth. (See my article, “Creating a Worthy Antagonist”.)
Conclusion

In summary, Donald Maass spells out in detail the kind of ongoing, deepening tension needed for creating a page-turner, a breakout novel: “Conflict that holds our attention for long periods of time is meaningful, immediate, large scale, surprising, not easily resolved, and happens to people for whom we feel sympathy.”

On the other hand, “Problems that are abstract, remote, trivial, ordinary, easily overcome, and/or happening to someone for whom we feel little … cannot fuel a gripping novel.”

The five essential plot elements, according to Maass, are: sympathetic character, conflict, complications, climax, and resolution.

And of course, in fiction, we want all or most of the problems and conflicts to be resolved at the end, for greatest reader satisfaction – but preferably in a surprising way, with an unexpected plot twist, and resonance. As James Scott Bell say, “The key is to leave readers satisfied in an unpredictable way.”

Maass sums it up: “So, what is it about conflict that makes a story a story?

* It makes us care by bonding us to a character.
* It sustains our interest through constant development and escalation.
* Finally, at its unavoidable peak, it brings us face-to-face with our deepest anxieties.
*If we face them and prevail, our anxieties are relieved. In the resolution, we enjoy peace.”  (Jodie’s bullets)

Resources: James Scott Bell, Revision and Self-Editing; Donald Maass, Writing the Breakout Novel; Jessica Page Morrell, Thanks, But This Isn’t For Us.

Copyright © Jodie Renner, January 2, 2012

Jodie Renner is a freelance fiction editor who is always looking for another good fiction manuscript to help take to the next level. Her tagline is “Let’s work together to enhance and empower your writing.” Please visit Jodie’s website at www.JodieRennerEditing.com.

In Part I, we talked about the importance of including conflict and tension of some sort on every page of your novel. Why? Because in fiction, “the best times for the writer – and reader – are when the story’s main character is in the worst trouble. Let your character relax, feel happy and content, and be worried about nothing, and your story dies.” (Jack M. Bickham)

Referring to Alfred Hitchcock’s well-known quote about effective film-making, “Drama is life with the dull parts left out,” James Scott Bell says, “You don’t want dull parts in your fiction, and dull parts are those without trouble. The greater the trouble, the greater the intensity.”

Bell goes on to advise us, “You want to have some sort of tension in every scene, though it doesn’t have to be of the highest sort. That would wear out the reader. Modulating tension is one of the keys to writing fiction. You give your readers some breathing room, too. But when they breathe, let it be with a tight chest.”

And as we said in Part I, you need to include tension right from in your opening paragraph, in order to hook your readers in. Donald Maass says, “Bridging conflict carries the reader from the opening line to the moment when the central conflict is set.” Then you’ll need to continue to include tension and conflict, whether external (arguments, fights, verbal sparring, threats) or internal (worry, anger, hurt, indecision, fear, angst, frustration, regret) on every page of your novel.

What are some techniques for achieving this? Here are some practical tips from writing gurus for revising your WIP to add more tension and spice up the scenes.

Create conflict between two people, not just accidents

Jack Bickham insists that effective tension in fiction involves conflict between two people, not just random accidents and bad luck for your protagonist. Give your hero or heroine something they can fight against, to challenge them and help them grow and develop their character and inner strength.

Conflict, according to Bickham, is “active give-and-take, a struggle between story people with opposing goals. It is not, please note, bad luck or adversity. It isn’t fate. It’s a fight of some kind between people with opposing goals.”

Why not just have your character get into an accident? That works well once in a while to throw a wrench in the works, but, as Bickham says, “Adversity in all its forms may create some sympathy for your character. But your character can’t reasonably try to understand it, plot against it, or even confront it in a dramatic way.

“Conflict, on the other hand, is a fight with another person. It’s dramatic, onstage now, with the kind of seesaw give-and-take that makes exciting stuff. When in conflict, your character knows who the opponent is and has a chance to struggle against him. In conflict, your character has a chance to change the course of events.”

“Never duck trouble – conflict – in your story. Seek it out,
because that’s where excitement and involvement – as well as
reader sympathy for your character – lie.” – Jack M. Bickham

How do you make sure you have the protagonist involved in real, compelling conflict, and not just some blind bad luck? According to Bickham, here is the recipe for effective, page-turning conflict:

* You make sure two characters are involved.
* You give them opposing goals.
* You put them onstage now.
* You make sure both are motivated to struggle now.

Pay attention to pacing and scene structure

The above is also the perfect recipe for writing a scene. Don’t start out your novel with your protagonist getting out of bed in the morning. No need to tell us what she had for breakfast, or her drive to work – or her drive home later (unless something significant and tense happened during the drive). Just use a sentence or two to mark transitions, or jump right to the telling scenes, the scenes with tension and conflict, scenes that drive the plot forward and contribute to character development.

“Virtually all the high points of most stories involve conflict. It’s the fuel that makes fiction go. Nothing is more exciting and involving.” – Jack M. Bickham

Pay attention to the structure of every scene you write. As Maass says, “A well-constructed scene has a mini-arc of its own: a beginning, a rise, and a climax or reversal at the end.”

Maass is not a big fan of the reaction-type scenes in which nothing new happens: “The so-called “aftermath” scene, in which the hero digests what has happened to him and settles on his next step, is an outdated technique.” Today, breakout novelists frequently use interior monologues instead, to deepen dilemmas and increase tension.

Irresolution and mixed feelings are by definition tense, but, Maass says, “if your protagonist is merely going to wallow or rehash what we already know, I suggest leaving such passages out of your book.”

Part III will discuss creating complex problems with escalating conflict.

Resources: James Scott Bell, Revision and Self-Editing; Jack M. Bickham, The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them); Donald Maass, Writing the Breakout Novel; Jessica Page Morrell, Thanks, But This Isn’t For Us.

Copyright © Jodie Renner, January 2, 2012

Jodie Renner is a freelance fiction editor who is always looking for another good fiction manuscript to help take to the next level. Her tagline is “Let’s work together to enhance and empower your writing.” Please visit Jodie’s website at www.JodieRennerEditing.com.

Tension on Every Page – Part I

What makes you, as a reader, put down a novel after only reading a few pages or a chapter or two? It’s almost always because, rather than getting hooked in, you’re getting bored. Your mind is wandering because the writing lacks tension. Tension and conflict are the essential elements that drive fiction forward. As Jessica Page Morrell says, “Happy characters are boring, and if there is no conflict, there is no story.”

“Drama is life with the dull parts left out.” – Alfred Hitchcock

Highly respected literary agent Donald Maass tells us, “Conflict is the magnet that draws reader interest, the discomfort that demands our attention.” As Maass counsels aspiring authors, “Without a doubt, the most common flaw I see in manuscripts…is the failure to invest every page of a novel with tension. Low tension equals low interest. High tension equals high interest.”

Jessica Page Morrell agrees. “There is nothing as unsatisfying and lacking in suspense as a story line where problems are easily solved, clues appear is if by magic or intuition, love is instantaneous and seldom rocky, people always agree and are agreeable, and everyday conditions never interfere with the protagonist’s comfort.”

“Plot is characters under stress.” – Henry James, “The Art of Fiction”

James Scott Bell concurs: “Every scene in your novel should have tension, whether that comes from outright conflict or the inner turmoil of character emotions.” So it’s not necessary or even desirable, to show nonstop edge-of-your-seat high-tension conflict – that would wear your readers out. But, as Bell says, “Even in scenes that are relatively quiet, characters can feel inner tension – worry, concern, irritability, anxiety.”

What is conflict in fiction and why do we need it? According to Maass, “Conflict is the unsettling core of events that makes us stop and look, wanting to understand, wondering what will happen, hoping for the best, fearing the worst. When the conflict level in a novel is high –that is, when it is immediate, credible, personal, unavoidable and urgent – it makes us slow down and read every word. When it is low, we are tempted to skim. We do not care. We wonder, what’s on TV?”

Your opening, and bridging conflict

Today’s best-selling novels almost all start with tension and conflict, right from the opening paragraph. This initial tension may not – and probably won’t – be the main conflict of the story, but it needs to be meaningful and intriguing, in order to draw the reader in long enough to lead up to bigger problems the protagonist faces. As Morrell points out, “The inciting incident, the first threat, sets the story in motion and tilts the protagonist off balance.”

Maass calls this initial opening tension a “bridging conflict”: “There is, in any great opening line, a mini-conflict or tension that is strong enough to carry the reader to the next step in the narrative. Its effect lasts, oh, perhaps half a page, a little more if it is really good. After that, another electric spark of tension needs to strike us. If it does not, our interest begins to weaken and will pretty quickly fade out.”

So, to use this technique of bridging conflict, it’s best to hook the reader in right away with a series of smaller conflicts that serve to capture and keep their attention until the main conflict or first large event of the story arrives.

As Maass reveals, “The number one mistake I see in manuscript submissions is a failure to put the main conflict in place quickly enough; or perhaps, a failure to use bridging conflict to keep things going until the main problem is set.”

Give them someone they’ll want to worry about

But in order for readers to invest any interest or concern about what happens to the protagonist, they first need to actually care about him. So it’s critical to present your main character as a likeable, resourceful, smart, strong – but vulnerable and conflicted – basically warm person the readers will want to root for. And make it clear early on what he really wants or needs. Then start to set up obstacles in his path that force him to reach down deep inside himself to find inner resources and hidden strengths in order to overcome them. His ongoing struggles will form your compelling plot and will contribute to his growth as a person, making him ultimately stronger, wiser, and even more likeable.

So if you want to write a novel that sells, remember Maass’s words of wisdom: “Tension on every page is a technique that keeps readers glued to a novel…. It is a key breakout skill.”

Resources: James Scott Bell, Revision and Self-Editing; Donald Maass, Writing the Breakout Novel; Jessica Page Morrell, Thanks, But This Isn’t For Us.

Parts II and III will discuss practical strategies for making your novel more compelling by ratcheting up the tension on every page.

Copyright © Jodie Renner, January 2, 2012

Jodie Renner is a freelance fiction editor who is always looking for another good fiction manuscript to help take to the next level. Her tagline is “Let’s work together to enhance and empower your writing.” Please visit Jodie’s website at www.JodieRennerEditing.com.

Each of us walks with a different gait pattern, meaning that our footsteps are aligned and spaced in a unique pattern. Some people march, others swagger, and still others shuffle along. Also the way our foot strikes the ground is unique. If a method can be devised to analyze heel strike, foot roll, and push-off then perhaps this might be useful evidence. In a recent paper published in the British Journal of the Royal Society Interface a group seems to have developed a process for obtaining three-dimensional images of footprints and their studies have revealed that this analysis is highly individual. They quoted and accuracy of 99.6%. If this turns out to be the case, then the analysis of footprints left in sand, soil, or another soft material might prove to be a useful forensic science technique.

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty was made popular because of its graphic film version. However, before the film shocked the world, it was a novel based on the 1949 exorcism of a young boy. The original story is not nearly as compelling as Blatty’s interpretation, but he took a classic story of exorcism with mysterious and doubtful possession and turned it into one of the scariest thrillers of all time.

Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry is the story of the Manson murders. Charles Manson managed to get a cult of young people to commit a series of high profile murders for him in the 1960s. The crimes themselves are compelling enough to remain famous to this day, and the novel, written just a few years after the crimes were committed, seems to retain every gut-wrenching detail of the original stories.

Sylvia Likens was a young girl whose parents left her with a near total stranger while they worked in a traveling show. Her guardian retained custody of Sylvia for three months, during which she tortured her until her death. She also allowed the neighborhood children and her own children to torture the young teen in unimaginable ways. The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum is based on those crimes. Both the novel and the original story are enough to keep a reader up at night.



In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is perhaps the most famous true crime novel of all time. It is based on the 1959 murders of a family in Kansas. The research for the novel was conducted by Truman Capote and Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird. It consisted of interviews with the murderers and those who knew the murdered family. The novel is a sensationalized version of an already sensational series of events. It is good, but Capote’s personality and doubt cast on the veracity of his version of events are what makes the novel so lasting in the public eye.

Filoviruses are viruses that have a terrifying mortality rate. Among them is the Ebola group of viruses. Richard Preston uses outbreaks of these viruses — Ebola in particular — as material for his novel The Hot Zone. Judging by factual accounts, this is a non-fiction book through and through. It is simply told in story format. The writing is unfailingly readable and the research is impeccable, as much of it was done as close to the source as Preston could get. His writing style is dramatic, sweeping the reader with every word.

There are many true crime novels out there being touted as fact. The reality is that most of those contain some embellishment by the author. It is important to bear that in mind that while you enjoy thrillers and mysteries based on true events, it will also be important to realize that these books are also manifestations of such events within the minds of their respective authors.

Elaine Hirsch is kind of a jack-of-all-interests, from education to technology to public policy, so she is currently working as a writer for various education-related sites and writing about all these things instead. She currently writes for a masters degree website.

If you want to grab a copy, please visit your local indie bookstore and if not go HERE.

Enjoy the prologue:

The Hamptons: Home Sweet Home

I’m Dr. Hank Lawson. I live in the Hamptons. Specifically, in the guesthouse at Shadow Pond, a sprawling estate owned by the mysterious Boris Kuester von Jurgens-Ratenicz. I call him simply Boris. The reason for this should be obvious.

The Hamptons weren’t my first choice of a place to practice medicine. Nor the second, third, or any other number you wish to attach. In fact, they didn’t even make the list. Weren’t on my radar.

But life sometimes pushes you along a path you never considered. You’re rolling along, have a great job, a fantastic fiancée, a glowing future. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and violins provide your life’s background music.

Until the train jumps the rails.

The music stops, the birds fly away, clouds darken the sun, and your life looks like the rubble left behind by a hurricane or a tornado or a tsunami.

That’s what happened to me.

I ran a very busy emergency department in a large and prestigious hospital. I was respected by my colleagues and admired by the hospital administration.

Until the train jumped the rails.

I should point out that an emergency room is a very dangerous place, perhaps second only to an aircraft carrier deck during flight operations. People die there all too often. Heart attacks, strokes, auto accidents, shootings and stabbings, runaway infections, and a long list of other maladies can do in even the healthiest among us. And on many occasions do so in short order. I had seen it all and weathered every storm.

Until the train jumped the rails.

My train wreck came in the form of a cardiac death. Not uncommon, but this time the patient was Mr. Clayton Gardner, a man worth billions, with a B, and as fate would have it the major donor to the hospital. I did nothing wrong and in fact nearly saved Mr. Gardner. The board felt otherwise, so I was fired and blackballed from the medical community. No job, no future, and no fiancée. Nicki, who I thought was the love of my life, bailed on me, too. She apparently decided that she needed to marry a real doc, not one who had been kicked to the curb.

The train had not only jumped the rails but had tumbled into a deep, uninhabited gorge.

Unable to deal appropriately with this mountain of setbacks, I drank beer and watched weeks of reruns on TV. This actually made me feel better. Self-pity will do that. It can also be addicting. It hooked me and I settled nicely into a routine of doing nothing. Lucy, Ethel, and I became BFFs.

This stage of my life didn’t last long, though. My brother, Evan, came to the rescue. Not that I went willingly, since I expected that whatever Evan planned would simply be another one of his harebrained schemes. When we were kids it seemed like he came up with two or three a week. Most were stupid and harmless, but a few got us in trouble. Nothing major, but we not infrequently found ourselves on the hot seat. Those are stories for another day. This time his idea was a trip to the Hamptons for Memorial Day weekend. The last thing I wanted to do. But Evan is persistent if nothing else. He also pointed out that I was becoming a slob and rapidly approaching flat broke.

What harm could a trip to the Hamptons do?

Maybe it would cheer me up?

Pushing my doubts on that point aside, I gave up the argument and said yes. My brother is very good at winning wars of attrition.

This little adventure into the wilds of the Hamptons led to a party at Shadow Pond, where I saved the life of one of the guests. A young woman who had inhaled a nasty pesticide while savoring a fragrant rose in Boris’s massive garden.

As a way of saying thanks for my having aborted a medical, social, political, and financial disaster, Boris gave me a gold bar—yes, a real solid gold bar—and settled Evan and me into his guesthouse. He became my first patient.

From there my concierge practice grew. I’m not sure how, since I fought it for months, unconvinced that that type of medicine was right for me. But like breaking in a new pair of jeans, it soon became comfortable.

Now HankMed, the name Evan dreamed up for my practice, is very successful. It still consists of Evan, HankMed’s self-anointed CFO, Divya Katdare, my self-hired physician assistant, and me. Our patient list has grown, we are solvent, even profitable, and once again the future looks bright.

I wish I could feel at ease with that, but the truth is I had my future blow up once before and I know it could happen again. Evan says I worry too much. That it’s in my nature to do so. Divya cautiously agrees. I believe I’m a realist.

Construction workers were doing renovations on the red-brick Bank of Abbeville, Louisiana in July, 2011. As they worked on an old chimney they discovered a skeleton. It seems that someone had attempted to enter the bank by descending the chimney only to become stuck and die from dehydration and starvation. The skeletal remains turned out to be Joseph. Another bank job gone bad.

Writing a Killer Thriller, Part III
by Jodie Renner

 
More techniques for writing a compelling suspense-thriller…or any other page-turner.
In Part I of this series, I passed along some tips for creating a compelling opening, complex characters, and a tight point of view. In Part II, I discussed creating a riveting plot with lots of conflict and suspense and a tight, to-the-point writing style. This final post in this series covers tension, dialogue, pacing, passion, and crafting a satisfying ending.

 
Put tension on every page.

 
This applies to all fiction, but even more so for thrillers. As Jack Bickham says, “Virtually all the high points of most stories involve conflict. It’s the fuel that makes fiction go. Nothing is more exciting and involving.”

Bickham continues, “In fiction, the best times for the writer—and reader—are when the story’s main character is in the worst trouble. Let your character relax, feel happy and content, and be worried about nothing, and your story dies. Pour on all sorts of woes so your poor character is thoroughly miserable and in the deepest kind of trouble, and your story perks right up—along with your reader’s interest.

“The moral: Although most of us do everything we can to avoid trouble in real life, we must do the opposite as writers of fiction. We must seek out ways to add trouble to our characters’ lives, putting just as much pressure on them as we can. For it’s from plot trouble that reader interest comes.”

In his chapter called “Tension All the Time,” Donald Maass emphasizes giving your protagonist (and other characters) conflicting emotions and inner conflict.

 
All dialogue needs tension, too.

 
As Ingermanson and Economy say, “Dialogue is war! Every dialogue should be a controlled conflict between at least two of the characters with opposing agendas. The main purpose of dialogue is to advance the conflict of the story.” So definitely leave out the “How are you? I’m fine. And you?” blah-blah-blah, and cut to the chase. Unless of course you’re trying to show seething resentment or subtle tension boiling up from under surface politeness. As Donald Maass says, “Conflict in dialogue can be as polite as poison, or as messy as hatchets. The approach is up to you. The important thing is to get away from ambling chit-chat and get right to the desire of two speakers to defeat each other.” So follow James N. Frey’s advice: “Decide you will have fresh, snappy dialogue and not a single line of conversation.”

Vary the pacing.

Although thrillers are generally fast-paced, it’s important to slow down the pacing from time to time, to give your readers a break. As Jessica Page Morrell says, “because readers need to put down a book from time to time, and because pacing can’t be as relentless as a runaway train, you need to bring down the temperature and tension in a story at intervals. A win for your character, as well as a slower or interlude scene, provides the pauses and quieter moments needed.”

 
Give your scenes conflict, intensity and intrigue.

 
Start and end your chapters and scenes with questions and intrigue. James N. Frey’s advice is to end each scene or section of dramatic narrative with a bridge, a story question to carry the reader to the next one.

Every scene, according to James Scott Bell, needs a degree of intensity. A moving force in the scene is trying to make something happen. Opposition or obstacles are keeping the POV character from meeting his objective. And the outcome is often not entirely satisfactory. In fact, Bell advises us, “Design your scenes, for the most part, so the lead is in a worse position after the scene is over.” This will keep the reader reading to find out how the protagonist tackles the new challenges and survives her new predicament.

Put passion into your writing.

 
Donald Maass, in The Fire in Fiction, feels that the key ingredient to a page-turner is passion. “What do I mean by passion? … A passionate author has us in her grip. Passionate fiction is not bogged down, wandering, low in tension, or beset by the many bugbears of by-the-numbers novel writing, like stereotypical characters, predictable plots, cliché-ridden prose, churning exposition, buried dialogue, and so on.[…] When the purpose of every word is urgent, the story crackles, connects, weaves, and falls together in wondrous ways.”

How to develop that passion as a writer? Maass believes in learning from others. “Everything we need in order to understand the techniques of passion lies within the covers of novels that you will currently find on the shelves.”

Create a thrilling, satisfying climax.

 
Frey points out, “In almost all damn good thrillers, the hero is nearly killed in the climax, but then manages to kill or capture the villain and to foil his evil plot. Audiences find this motif satisfying….” An effective, satisfying climax has a surprise or two, good prevails over evil, and often the hero discovers something about himself or gains insight into the human condition. Don’t disappoint your readers by having a nebulous, wishy-washy, or tragic ending. Leave that to literary fiction, not your killer thriller!

Resources:

James Scott Bell, Revision and Self-Editing

James N. Frey, How to Write a Damn Good Thriller

Donald Maass, The Fire in Fiction

David Morrell, The Successful Novelist

Jessica Page Morrell, Thanks, But This Isn’t for Us

Jodie Renner is a freelance editor specializing in crime fiction. Check out her website at: http://www.jodierennerediting.com.