Susan May
Thanks for the question, Vanessa.
I think a good storyline is anything that captures your imagination. If it's a good storyline then it doesn't matter if the writing isn't brilliant. Think The Da Vinci Code and Dan Brown. Famously not well written, but who of us readers could put it down. I will never forget reading that book everywhere I could.
A good storyline in a thriller needs to have dangling threads that will be solved further down the track. If you get the dangling threads right, then readers can't stop turning the pages.
I try and dangle a few threads all the way through. In Deadly Messengers just when you think you've got the whole thing worked out, ah, ah, ah, there's the howdunnit to solve. Then it becomes a different book and a good ride, I hope.
But, Vanessa, what I consider a good storyline might be different to someone else. It's all subjective. I love fast paced, immersive stories with rich characters, so that's what I try to write. If you can get something original in there, mores the better.
When I was fourteen and writing a fiction essay for school, I asked my mom how to write a good one (she wasn't a writer, by the way). She gave me the best advice that I still hold dear now. She said, "Imagine what everyone else will write and then write something completely different."
So that is probably the magic ingredient to a great storyline. Something you've never read or seen before.
I think a good storyline is anything that captures your imagination. If it's a good storyline then it doesn't matter if the writing isn't brilliant. Think The Da Vinci Code and Dan Brown. Famously not well written, but who of us readers could put it down. I will never forget reading that book everywhere I could.
A good storyline in a thriller needs to have dangling threads that will be solved further down the track. If you get the dangling threads right, then readers can't stop turning the pages.
I try and dangle a few threads all the way through. In Deadly Messengers just when you think you've got the whole thing worked out, ah, ah, ah, there's the howdunnit to solve. Then it becomes a different book and a good ride, I hope.
But, Vanessa, what I consider a good storyline might be different to someone else. It's all subjective. I love fast paced, immersive stories with rich characters, so that's what I try to write. If you can get something original in there, mores the better.
When I was fourteen and writing a fiction essay for school, I asked my mom how to write a good one (she wasn't a writer, by the way). She gave me the best advice that I still hold dear now. She said, "Imagine what everyone else will write and then write something completely different."
So that is probably the magic ingredient to a great storyline. Something you've never read or seen before.
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