Rules for an Aspiring Techno-Thriller Writer: I’ve been asked several times for advice to a new techno-thriller writer. I started making a list, and it’s gotten a lot longer than I expected. These are all things I’ve learned since I got into the business. Some were as Tom Clancy’s co-author (apprentice); others were after I struck […]
Category Archives: Writing Tips
The Necessity of an Antagonistic Setting
The Necessity of an Antagonistic Setting A trait of a bestselling writer is the ability to raise the stakes for the protagonist. A writer often turns to obvious means of adding stress, tension, and conflict through characterization, dialogue, plot twists, and emotive conflict. Those are powerful tools, but an antagonistic setting means shaky ground for […]
Writing Tip #1: Talk to Real People
Writing Tip #1: Talk to Real People As someone who has been writing police procedurals on the page and on the screen for more than thirty years, I take research for my books and TV shows very seriously. The absolute best way to draw your characters is to talk to real people about their stories. […]
Unraveling the Mystery of Crime Readers
Unraveling the Mystery of Crime Readers Crime readers don’t like crime at all. What they like is justice… Item: A well-dressed woman sips tea—one fashionable leg crossed over the other, a heeled shoe bouncing on her toe—as she casually reads about the coroner extracting seaweed from the rotting flesh of a bloated corpse too long […]
Lisa Gardner’s Top Five Writing Tips
Lisa Gardner’s Top Five Writing Tips When I started my career as a suspense novelist, I was seventeen years old. I wrote my first novel on a shared computer in the college computer lab during my free time after my classes, homework and work-study job were all completed. Basically, I drafted three unpublished novels in […]
Don’t Start your Typewriter Without these Five Writing Tips
Don’t Start your Typewriter Without these Five Writing Tips I wanted to discuss some of the “nuts and bolts” of the writing business from my observations and lessons I’ve learned over the forty years I have been writing. This profession has changed drastically over the past several years with the rise of self-publishing and e-books. […]
Five Tips for Writing a Suspense Novel
Five Tips for Writing a Suspense Novel The pops of an old house settling. The creak of a door. The haunting silence of being alone. These are some of my favorite sounds, so choosing to write suspense wasn’t a stretch for me when I decided to give penning a novel a go. Over the years, […]
Let Your Senses Run Wild
Let Your Senses Run Wild As a suspense and thriller author, I write a lot of murder scenes. It’s a hazard of the job. Sometimes I write them in the moment, as the blade is being swung or the trigger is pulled; sometimes it’s the seconds that immediately follow. And other times, the scenes […]
Five Ways to Begin Your Book
Five Ways to Begin Your Book My favorite part of writing is the beginning of a book. It’s exciting because I feel free to do anything I want. I haven’t painted myself into a corner yet. Or questioned who came up with this stupid plot? Or slogged through the middle where I’m looking around for […]
Going Deep: Five Tips for Getting Into the Mind of Your Villain
Going Deep: Five Tips for Getting Into the Mind of Your Villain Suspense has always been one of my favorite genres. There’s not much I like more than spending a quiet evening sipping tea and reading a good suspense novel. If there’s a thunderstorm outside and rain pattering on the roof, a little scene-setting […]
What’s at Stake? Creating Conflict in your Books
What’s at Stake? Creating a serious edge-of-the-seat conflict in books… There’s a tongue-in-cheek saying in higher education circles that academic politics are so nasty because the stakes are so low. It’s another way of saying that the intensity of a conflict should match what’s at stake. This is particularly true in thrillers. Who’d want […]
Top 10 Writing Tips for a Killer Novel
Top 10 Writing Tips for a Killer Novel Nail the opening. Grab the reader by the throat from the first page, the first paragraph, even the first sentence. Instead of dumping a bunch of backstory into the opening chapter or setting the stage for action that takes place in the second or third […]