Anne Buist is the author of Dangerous to Know and Medea’s Curse , which are the kind of epically reviewed books you’d give anything for.
Plot
Given the nature of a psychological thriller, it’s fascinating to read how Anne plots her titles:
Plot development is the critical core of psychological thrillers – if the plot is good enough virtually all other faults can be forgiven (not that I aim for other faults!). For me this is where I start and everything else comes later.
The question I always try to keep in mind is: what is at stake here? Shortly followed by: what’s the worst thing that could happen now? Thrillers need some red herrings so in screenplay terms I look for first and second act turning points – where else might the story go? Usually I have this in my head as I am writing, so the false trail is being laid, but I can always add this later (or delete if I have made it too obvious). In Dangerous to Know I didn’t have it firmly fixed in my head as to who did it at the beginning – this happened as my characters developed, so this helped to some degree with the early multiple possibilities. I have a number of people telling me that the twist in Medea’s Curse caught them completely by surprise which was great, but it was also still credible and in keeping with character. The main thing is I want people to feel compelled to keep reading!
I have to admit, those two questions she mentions either make me wince in anticipation of what’s coming next in a thriller or eagerly look forward to it — with me, it could go either way really.
But stakes are important, whether you’re writing a psychological thriller or something else — like Anne said, there should always be something at stake, because I understand now what it means when there isn’t.
I also did not expect that she would not know who was the killer in Dangerous to Know in the beginning, but really, it means like Tony Park and Ambelin Kwaymullina , she lets her story flow and goes where it takes her, right? Still not me — don’t ask how many times it took me to put this post together!
Which authors do it best — keep you on the edge of your seat with what’s at stake? Or which titles nail the same completely?
So true — the plot needs to be planned and developed to keep the thrill going and make it plausible!