Medical thrillers are based around hospitals, doctors, nurses, EMTs, paramedics — any and all medical professionals. These thrillers can be quite a bit quieter than other thrillers, tending more toward mystery or suspense pacing at times as the doctors try to figure out the pathogen that will destroy the world or the murderer who is stalking their patients, but
This is a rare combo guide for a subgenre for two separate top tier genres, thriller and mystery. Legal thrillers and legal mysteries are mostly the same thing, and in fact both will almost always be called legal thrillers. Amazon only has a legal thriller category, no mystery one. The only real difference is that mysteries often lack the ticking clock and constant action of the thrillers.
Back to Thriller Guide Remember to read the articles in the Essentials section. These cover all the essential skills you’ll need as a self-published author. They are not just for beginners either. They go in depth on how to successfully write, publish, and market your own books. Online Resources Learn to write thrillers from David Baldacci or Dan Brown at Masterclass.com Read this Reedsy post on how to write a thriller. Books to Read If you want to write thrillers, you must read them. Experts in the industry are consistent with their advice that you must be an avid reader...
Back to Thriller Guide For this exercise, you should have a document open where you can write. Now copy the text in the box and paste it into that document. This will be the blueprint for your story. You’ll fill it in as you go through the exercise and end up with a basic outline for your thriller. You may want to post your story outline in the forums to get some ideas from other forum members. The Thriller Builder Our hero (her name here) must prevent (disaster here). They are in a hurry because (ticking clock here). The hero...
Back to Thriller Guide Please note that there are a number of thrillers that don’t follow this blueprint exactly, and most don’t follow it perfectly. If your book will still be thrilling and interest readers without one of these pieces, or with some of them done differently or in a different order, feel free to do your own thing. This blueprint is just so that you can understand the basic format that your readers will expect from the genre. ACT 1 – The People And The Problems The Hook The hook can be anywhere from 200 to 2,000 words, and...
Back to Thriller Guide Do you love a brilliant hero trying to save the world before he’s blown to bits by the time bomb in his shorts? Then you should be writing thrillers. If you read a lot of them, you already know the tropes to use, the cliches to avoid, and the basic structures they follow. If you haven’t read many thrillers, and just think they might be a good way to make money, you should go read a bunch of them and then come back. You must be very familiar with, and even love, thrillers if you are...
Thrillers are about tension and movement, long odds and fighting to overcome them, and a hero so brilliant and determined that they win despite everything being stacked against them. They may have to make a big sacrifice, but in the end the hero saves the world. Thrillers are usually written in third person, specifically, in third person limited. It’s a visceral genre, so first person is good, too, but thrillers often feature complex and/or convoluted plots that need several viewpoint characters to work. For first person, make sure your plot is on the simpler side, the twist demands the reader...
