Are you a believer?

What type of reader are you – one that easily suspends your sense of disbelief and loses yourself in the story no matter how crazy it may get? Or do you question everything and get frustrated over the little details that just seem too far-fetched?

This is the struggle for thriller writers, I think. I’ve spent most of the summer revising book two, a sequel to THE RULES FOR DISAPPEARING. Sequels present their own challenges but I’ve decided – the hardest part about writing a thriller (sequel or not) is the believability issue. I think when your story takes place in a world filled with magical and paranormal activity, it’s easier somehow to blur the line that separates believability from just too far-fetched to be real. But for contemporary thrillers, that line that can be as unforgiving as a tight pair of skinny jeans the day after vacation where you may have eaten just a bit more than normal. You have to bend and stretch and work really hard to get those jeans up and buttoned.

Thrillers must have extreme and highly unusual situations and the characters almost always find themselves in a race to save either their own life or someone else’s. There has to be twists and turns and you have to set them up so they don’t come out of left field but don’t give too many hints that the reader can see it coming a mile away. It’s a complicated dance of words and pacing and tension.

Recently, my critique group discovered video chatting and it changed my world. To be able to talk, face to face, and work out plots and character arcs and motivations has helped me more than I ever thought possible. And almost every conversation we have – no matter whose story we’re dissecting – there is always the question, “Will the reader find that believable?”

Because if that answer is no – the story just won’t work. You could have a brilliant plot with complex twists and perfect pacing but if the reader doesn’t trust that world, none of it matters. And then given the fact that every reader has a different level of what they will or will not believe, you can make yourself mad trying to figure out how far to push your story.

Sadly, there is no litmus test for believably, although that would be something I would pay good money for.

 

Ashley Elston lives in Northwest Louisiana with her husband and three sons. Her debut, THE RULES FOR DISAPPEARING, is available now. As you can tell from her post, she is smack dab in the middle of the sequel that will be published by Disney Hyperion in 2014.  

You can find Ashley procrastinating here:
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Advice from the Masters

I've been on a writing hiatus the past few weeks—after turning in my first draft for book three in my series I skipped town for a needed vacation and have since been playing catchup. So when it came time to write a post, I was feeling a little short on immediate inspiration. That's why I'm turning to some well established mystery greats for some insight. Here's what I came up with:

"The construction of a detective story might be formulaic — the writing need not be.” — P.D. James


"Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end. If it's a letdown, they won't buy anymore. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book." — Micky Spillane

"I suppose I would compare my technique to meandering down a road, excited to be at the beginning of a journey. The people and things I meet along the way, for the most part, are a surprise to me as much as to the reader." — Julia Buckley

"I’m learning to trust the process. I’m trying to remember that writing should be a form of play. I keep saying the fate of the free world does not hang in the balance. Even if I write a book that fails, nothing will happen. I’ll be mortified and embarrassed, but lives will not be lost over this. I take writing terribly seriously, and sometimes that just gets in my way. Writing is about the Shadow, which is about play. I just have to learn that again."  —Sue Grafton

"Ignore my advice. Because a book can only work if it has a spark in it, if it is 110 percent yours and full of integrity, and it's organic. Somebody else will like it. Maybe thousands of people. Maybe tens of thousands of people. Maybe, if you're lucky, millions of people." —Lee Child

What are some of your favorite pieces of advice from authors, mystery or otherwise?