How to Write Suspense Books That Readers Can’t Put Down
(And That Hollywood Producers
Want to Turn into Feature Motion Pictures)
Donna Brennan Interviews Robert Liparulo
Part I
It might sound like a dream come true, but nine of Robert Liparulo’s thriller / suspense novels have been optioned for film and three are currently in various stages of production. And since so many young adults were reading his suspense thrillers, he wrote a whole series for them: Dreamhouse Kings. Of course, lots of his adult fans have read that series as well. Fortunately for us, Robert is teaching a continuing session, Writing Suspense and Thrillers, at both the Colorado Christian Writers Conference (May 16 – 19) and at the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference (August 1 – 4). That’s six hours we can spend absorbing knowledge and wisdom from this critically acclaimed and very successful author.
I contacted Robert to ask him about the session he’ll be teaching. Here are his answers.
Question: Can someone really be taught how to write a successful thriller suspense story? Or is it a talent that some writers just seem to “have?”
It helps to have an attraction to thrillers in the first place. I’ve been reading thrillers since I was a kid, so I have a pretty comprehensive understanding of the genre’s tenets from a reader’s perspective. After a while, what works and what doesn’t becomes intuitive, which lets the writer focus on character development and his or her writing, instead of the structure and devices of the genre.
I’ve read the works of some writers who aren’t naturally attracted to suspense, but wanted to try their hand at it; what tends to come through in their stories are clichés or twists that they think are clever, but they’ve been done to death. That’s not to say it can’t be done, but it takes a lot more work than these authors believed.
Question: Your earlier books didn’t delve too much into the faith arena, yet there was a Christian worldview present the whole time. But now your latest book, The 13th Tribe, has a strong biblical basis-the tribe consisting of some of the Israelites, from Moses’s time, who had worshiped the golden calf. It seems like two opposite ends of the spectrum, and yet they both work. What are your reasons for the big shift? And where in the spectrum (if anyplace) do you advocate your students let their stories fall?
I’ve always tried to follow God’s leading in how I tell my stories. When I started Comes a Horseman, I prayed and fasted about how much overt Christianity to put into it. One morning, I was looking at Pikes Peak and I heard God speaking to me. He said, “Do you see me in that mountain.” I said, “Of course, I see you in everything.” He said, “Do you see my name carved into it?” “No.” “That’s how I want you to write your story.” So, I believe God is in my earlier books in ways that I could not have possibly written Him into them. And readers have responded, telling me that scenes comforted them and got them thinking about God-and none of it was intentionally written into those scenes. In fact, if the Holy Spirit weren’t pointing it out to them, readers wouldn’t have seen it at all.
When I was preparing to write a book about vigilantes, I heard God telling me it was time to be more overt about the spirituality. Following His calling, the story exploded into an examination of faith and justice and grace, and the idea of the Tribe fell into place. But despite the faith elements becoming more prevalent, I’m still a thriller writer, so making The 13th Tribe a Christian thriller felt very natural.
I don’t think Christian authors should necessarily try to fit into a particular market, whether that’s Christian or mainstream. They need to follow their hearts. If that means having strong spiritual content or addressing faith more subtly, then that’s what they should do.
Question: Your books seem to have strong themes: family, loyalty, doing the right thing, self-sacrifice, etc. While it may be obvious to include some type of theme in a Christian novel, how important are these themes to writing a thriller?
Themes in thrillers are less important than character and plot. In fact, a general rule is to not write with a theme in mind, because then every scene, every snatch of dialog, tends to fall back on that theme and it becomes heavy-handed and detracts from the natural flow of the story. However, I think themes are more important in Christian stories, simply because there are so many things about being a Christian that without some sort of theme in mind the story can get muddled. For The 13th Tribe, I had a general idea of the themes that would come through by the end; then as I started writing, I tried to forget those themes. I think they came through naturally because they were on my mind when I thought through the story, but not as I wrote it.
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What a fabulous interview! Thank you, Donna and Robert. Watch for two more installments with more great questions and advice.
There’s still time to register for the May 15-19 Colorado Christian Writers Conference and to sign up for Robert’s continuing session. Click here.
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