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Writing a Science Thriller: Craft and Tricks
Amy RogersAuthor. Scientist.
Amy RogersO Medical scientist & professorO Author Member, International Thriller WritersO Judge, ITW Thriller Awards (2014)O Book critic, ScienceThrillers.comO Publisher, ScienceThrillers MediaO CWC member for over ten years
BISAC codes
CraftFest instructorsO Steve Berry O Steven James
OpeningO Something interesting should appear right
awayO External, not in somebody’s headO Opening sentence is an invitation
O It should express the book’s voiceO It is a promise of what is to come
Examples
OpeningsO Must have a hookJoseph Finder: “the opening gambit that reels you in”
O Authentic, consistent with the story
O Come back and change as story evolves
O What not to do: Steven James
Hook vs Theme
O Hook: What if?O Theme: what’s the book really about?
--Daniel Palmer
StoryO Goals + Motivation + Conflict = STORY
O Causality O ClarityO Believability
--Steve Berry
Putting science in a storyO Sources of information / ideasO Audience matters
O Who is your ideal reader?
O Expertise & AccuracyO Seasoning or meat?
O Get helpO Stay out of the weedsO Use POV
PLAUSIBILITY matters more than accuracy
TwistsO Playing with reader expectation
O A good twist is both inevitable and unexpectedO Justified, logical, and unpredictable
CharacterO Character is revealed through action
O ESPECIALLY choices made under pressure
O Appeal / charisma
--Steve Berry
Show, don’t TellO “He was __________.”
O Emotional stateO Attitude or personality traitO Special skill
All of this applies to the villain/antagonist too
Pacing:Avoid info dumps
O Chunks of exposition bog down the narrative
O Readers will skip over to “the good parts” because they can see it on the page
Pacing:Conveying technical info
O MinimizeO Use contextO Use dialog
O Double-duty: also add conflict, subtextO NEVER use “as you know”
O Fake a news article, lecture, or report
Tension
O StakesO DilemmasO ActionO EscalationO Use psychic distance to manipulate tension
O Role vs name vs pronoun
Steven James:Two opposing forces.
“Tension is born when conflict meets desire.”
SuspenseO Steven James on suspense
Point of View (POV)O Tight 3rd person is most common for thrillers
O Stay in one for each scene or chapterO Tip: use POV character’s name in first
sentence
O Minimize number of POV charactersO No “red shirt” POVs
DialogO Minimize dialog tagsO Avoid –ing and “as”
O BAD: “That’s terrific,” she said as she clapped her hands. “That’s terrific,” she said, clapping her hands.
O GOOD: She clapped her hands. “That’s terrific.”
O Minimize BOGSATO Use subtext
ClimaxO No way out
O Character’s choices
O Escalate
O Style change
O Long enough
Climax: Ending a “killer virus” story
Variants:
Recommended Titles
Troubleshooting Your Novel by Steven JamesWrite Your Novel from the Middle by James Scott Bell
Writing a Killer Thriller by Jodie Renner
THE HAN AGENT: Scientist who defied a research ban on flu virus joins Japanese company with ties to WWII crimes in China.
PETROPLAGUE: Classic science disaster thriller set in Los Angeles. Oil-eating bacteria contaminate the fuel supply and paralyze the city. Perfect for fans of Michael Crichton.
REVERSION: An American scientist testing a gene therapy cure on a child at a private hospital in Mexico is trapped when a drug lord takes over the hospital. Story features a very good dog.
