It seems like thriller authors have a law, police, military background. Im looking to read a thriller by an author who does not have a specialized background. Any examples? I would like to atempt a thriller but I'm a college dropout and don't have any speciality background. It seems quite overwhelming.
Background required to write thrillers?
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Gee, I have no idea what the background is of most of the thriller writers whose work I enjoy. I always assume they're kick-ass researchers.
I liked Vertical Run by Joseph Garber, in which a businessman uses skills he hasn't employed since 'nam. No idea if Garber was there, though.
Here's a short list of thrillers I've enjoyed enough to recommend them to others.
Peter Abrahams, Pressure Drop, The Fan, Hard Rain, and Revolution Number 9
Lawrence Block, A Long Line of Dead Men (just one of a large series)
Harlan Coben, Gone for Good and Tell No One
Douglas Kennedy, The Big Picture and The Job
Andrew Klaven, True Crime
Dennis Lehane, Mystic River and Gone, Baby, Gone
Elmore Leonard, Get Shorty, Rum Punch
Michael Malone, Uncivil Seasons
T. Jefferson Parker, Silent Joe
Petru Popescu, Almost Adam
Stephen White, Kill Me
I know a little bit about some of those authors, and my understanding is that their careers as newspapermen, attorneys, psychologists, whatever influenced and informed their novels far more than military or police work. I'm not sure any of them were policemen, although several are of the age when they could easily have been drafted to serve in the military if they did not volunteer.
If the thrillers you like most involve law enforement or military matters, then you will need to do research and make some connections with people you can ask if you're not sure you got something right.
Maryn, who loves her some thrillers
I liked Vertical Run by Joseph Garber, in which a businessman uses skills he hasn't employed since 'nam. No idea if Garber was there, though.
Here's a short list of thrillers I've enjoyed enough to recommend them to others.
Peter Abrahams, Pressure Drop, The Fan, Hard Rain, and Revolution Number 9
Lawrence Block, A Long Line of Dead Men (just one of a large series)
Harlan Coben, Gone for Good and Tell No One
Douglas Kennedy, The Big Picture and The Job
Andrew Klaven, True Crime
Dennis Lehane, Mystic River and Gone, Baby, Gone
Elmore Leonard, Get Shorty, Rum Punch
Michael Malone, Uncivil Seasons
T. Jefferson Parker, Silent Joe
Petru Popescu, Almost Adam
Stephen White, Kill Me
I know a little bit about some of those authors, and my understanding is that their careers as newspapermen, attorneys, psychologists, whatever influenced and informed their novels far more than military or police work. I'm not sure any of them were policemen, although several are of the age when they could easily have been drafted to serve in the military if they did not volunteer.
If the thrillers you like most involve law enforement or military matters, then you will need to do research and make some connections with people you can ask if you're not sure you got something right.
Maryn, who loves her some thrillers
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Some authors have a background in law enforcement or something related, but many more just research the hell out of topics and write good stories.
WRITE GOOD STORIES.
WRITE GOOD STORIES.
Some authors have a background in law enforcement or something related, but many more just research the hell out of topics and write good stories.
WRITE GOOD STORIES.
Yup. Patricia Cornwell comes to mind. I think she actually visited The Body Farm as part of her research for her novels.
I was so interested in crime myself I went to school for it. But you could always interview police officials, read (A LOT) of documents such as police reports or court documents, whatever is available to the public.
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I like crime novels rather than thrillers, but not one of the books on my shelves was written by an author with a background in law enforcement.
Political thrillers are one of four genres I write. Though my background in the military and intel community is very helpful, it's not a prerequisite. For example, I once meant Clancy at one of the agencies where I worked and he discussed the years that went into researching each story. If you're willing to put in the time, and have the interest in learning new avenues, you can write political thrillers.
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Lee Child seems to do OK. So does David Morrell (Rambo!) Tom Clancy was an insurance agent.
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2014/07/04/thrillers-david-morrell/
What thriller writers seem to have in common is a desire and ability to research. But even that isn't strictly necessary. Just write the story within your ability. If it thrills, it's a thriller.
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2014/07/04/thrillers-david-morrell/
What thriller writers seem to have in common is a desire and ability to research. But even that isn't strictly necessary. Just write the story within your ability. If it thrills, it's a thriller.
Excellent advice. If not I'll get paralysis by analysis.
the key word there being years. I guess I have to decide how bad I want it. It's good to know though that it is doable.
James Patterson worked in advertising. John Lescroart worked as a "jack of all trades" including gigs as a bartender and furniture mover. Stephen King also held a variety of workingman jobs.
If you know and like the genre and believe you can write, give it a shot.
Best wishes,
Peter DiChellis
If you know and like the genre and believe you can write, give it a shot.
Best wishes,
Peter DiChellis
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What? You don't have any of my books?? For shame...
Er...I...I mean...That is to say....
Quick! Look over there!
You remind me of my father, who always held the firm belief that a person has to have "credentials" to do what they do - in other words, if you don't have the background, you're not qualified to do it. He's not a writer (obviously) so it never occurs to him that there are so many ways you can get information now (internet, libraries, interviews, etc) and when you're writing fiction, you don't have to be an expert to write well about something.
In fact, I sometimes think that having a background can be a hindrance. It might lead some people to be lazy about researching and also have a myopic vision of their subject whereas if you're forced to do a lot of research you get more of a wider view of the subject.
Djuna
In fact, I sometimes think that having a background can be a hindrance. It might lead some people to be lazy about researching and also have a myopic vision of their subject whereas if you're forced to do a lot of research you get more of a wider view of the subject.
Djuna
You don't need years to research. You need subject matter. If you want to gain more first-hand knowledge about law enforcement, your community may have a citizens police academy you can sign up for. Our own vagoughs has done this and has had fantastic experiences.
If you want to learn about the intelligence community, there are books you can read about its organization, about tradecraft. The International Spy Museum has spycasts.
If you want to learn about art forgeries, the Smithsonian has an evening lecture coming up. Maybe you don't live near DC and can't attend. The point being: there's information out there, and you can go get it.
You don't have to be an expert. There are times you will feel like you need to be an expert. You may be tackling a scene for which you feel completely out of your depth. Fake it. Nobody's going to believe what you've written if you're doubting it yourself. And nobody's going to read anything if you feel like you have to be an expert in order to write it.
Fiction is a bunch of made up stuff sometimes loosely hung on fact. So select your facts carefully and make some stuff up.
If you want to learn about the intelligence community, there are books you can read about its organization, about tradecraft. The International Spy Museum has spycasts.
If you want to learn about art forgeries, the Smithsonian has an evening lecture coming up. Maybe you don't live near DC and can't attend. The point being: there's information out there, and you can go get it.
You don't have to be an expert. There are times you will feel like you need to be an expert. You may be tackling a scene for which you feel completely out of your depth. Fake it. Nobody's going to believe what you've written if you're doubting it yourself. And nobody's going to read anything if you feel like you have to be an expert in order to write it.
Fiction is a bunch of made up stuff sometimes loosely hung on fact. So select your facts carefully and make some stuff up.
A few off the top of my head…
Harlan Coben
John Rector
Lee Child
Marcus Sakey
Dan Brown
Dean Koontz
Unless you're talking about military and espionage thrillers, the list is actually quite long.
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You could also certainly write a thriller in another context: religious cult, medical malpractice, gated community, factory farm, etc etc.
It really doesn't take years, unless you want it to, or unless your life is so busy you can only research every great once in a while.
All writing requires research, if you want to get all the details right. It just does, whether you;re writing a thriller, an SF novel, a western, or anything else.
Or you can take the Stephen King approach and research pretty much nothing. The Green Mile, for example, does not exist, but using it turned his book into a bestseller, and a very good movie.
Indeed. It's amazing how famous he got writing military gear porn. A lot of it isn't terribly technical, either. I think his trick was that he was able to make it accessible and understandable in laymen's terms while making it seem technical and dynamic to the average person picking up his books.
Can you explain in more detail, gated community and factory farm?
These interest me.
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Factory Farm = Buckeye Egg.
Gated community is just what it sounds like - a neighborhood with a gate at the front. Think very expensive, very exclusive, like where Les Wexner would live. Some even have a security patrol.
Gated community is just what it sounds like - a neighborhood with a gate at the front. Think very expensive, very exclusive, like where Les Wexner would live. Some even have a security patrol.
Military gear porn? Seriously? He got famous writing great stories with great characters, and by using extremely real technology. So real that the military investigated him twice to see where he was getting his information because some of the details in Red October and Red Storm Rising was supposed to be classified.
But it was all exactly as technical as it should be to make a great novel without interruption story and character. A lot of hard SF writers could take lessons from Clancy in how to write technology without killing story and character.
Many, probably most, of his best novels had nothing to do with advanced technology, for that matter. Novels such as Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, Without Remorse, and at least two or three others, could have been written by any mystery or adventure writer.
They all involved topics of the day that not only could have happened, but that either did happen, or were seriously considered by the sitting president.
The man was just a good writer who knew what readers wanted, and how to give it to them. Military gear porn had nothing to do with it.
I'd suggest starting by finding out if there's a citizen's police academy course in your area and taking that. It'll get you at least some info on police procedure...having experience shooting different pistols and rifles wouldn't hurt either. Try to write what you know as much as possible.