Hi, I’m OMJ Ryan, author of the Detective Jane Phillips series.
My writing journey started in earnest back in 2008 when I began work on my very first novel, Media Monster, which I eventually published ten years later in 2018. Hardly a quick turnaround, but my writing time was limited to stolen moments between the vast number of meetings that made up my day job in the corporate world back then.
Fast forward to today and I’m now a two-time bestselling author of eleven books and counting.
It’s not always been plain sailing, and I’ve made quite a few mistakes along the way, but I’ve also garnered a huge amount of insight and knowledge that I hope might be useful if you’re looking to write your own books.
And that’s the purpose of this blog, to help fledgling thriller writers find their way through to publishing. I don’t claim to have all the answers, but I hope you might find some of my own experiences useful.
So, let’s start with a staple of thriller writing: creating a sense of suspense.
Building suspense is akin to crafting a delicate house of cards. One misstep and the tension dissolves, taking the reader's interest along with it. But when executed just right, the payoff can both captivate and thrill your readers.
Suspense thrives on uncertainty and the goal is to leave your audience on the edge of their seat, desperate to know what’s coming next. Tease them by peppering questions through the chapters that need answering and will keep them turning the pages.
Ideally, give away just enough information to pique their interest but never enough to reveal the full picture until the point of the greatest impact. Like a good magician, a thriller writer keeps their secrets well hidden until the big reveal.
Next, play with pacing.
Faster pacing can inject urgency into a scene, making the reader feel the protagonist's pulse pounding and their breaths coming in short gasps. Slower pacing, on the other hand, can increase tension as the reader is made to wait, the dread growing with each passing moment. Mastering the rhythm of your narrative can make all the difference in how suspenseful a scene feels.
Characterisation also plays a pivotal role in the impact of the suspense. Your characters need to be believable and relatable to your audience. If the reader can empathise, or sympathise with the protagonist, they’ll quickly find themselves feeling their fears and anxieties, as if they were their own – the ultimate way to connect them to your characters and the story as a whole.
Personally, I always try hard to convey the fact that my main character, DCI Jane Phillips is just like the rest of us, a human being with faults, flaws, and demons of her own. I then counter these imperfections by giving her an insatiable desire to deliver justice for the victims of the horrific crimes she and the team investigate, day in, day out.
Lastly, suspense demands high stakes.
Whether it's a bomb set to explode, a serial killer on the loose, or a loved one in danger, the reader needs to feel that something significant is at risk. That said, high stakes don’t always require life-or-death scenarios; putting emotional or psychological pressures on to your main characters can be just as potent.
Remember, writing suspense isn’t an exact science, in fact, it’s more a game. The great thing is that as the writer, you get to decide how it plays out, and ultimately who will be triumphant.
It’s not always easy and can take time to perfect, but the more you write, the better you’ll become as you hone your craft.
I hope you’ve found this helpful and if you have a direct question you’d like answering, please contact me here https://www.omjryan.com/contact-me
In the meantime, happy writing.