Exploring the Suspense Genre with Ed's writing tips

Ed's Ten Rules for Writing Engaging Thrillers

1. Set the scenes quickly.

2. Present the conflict ASAP.

3. Use adjectives only to show, not tell emotions.

4. Keep paragraphs and chapters short that end with a question or a subsequent move to be revealed later.

5. Use mind-mapping exercises to plot the conflicts and resolutions.

6. Don't write anything until you know the motives of the protagonists and the antagonists.

7. Use minor characters to develop portraits of the main characters and advance the drama, and the reveals if possible.

8. Start with a beginning and an ending ... but let your characters' journeys create the middle. That's the fun part.

9. Edit to make an economy of words advance the story, cutting what isn't necessary. Play it back by audio to ensure the pacing is consistent and the facts and timing of events are threaded accurately.

10. Repeat 9. Set it aside and write some flash fiction. Repeat 9. Send to alpha or beta readers. Write a book review for an author. Repeat 9.