Writing Your Thriller - How to Use Life Experiences and Imagination in Fiction

Having written and published 33 novels, I have some experience in writing fiction.  The most oft asked question I get, when doing book signing and author talks is, how do you work up a story line?

USING LIFE EXPERIENCE TO CRAFT FICTION

The answer is simple:  I draw on my own life experiences just as any good writer does.  Look at plotting a story as you would ripples in a pond.    What happens when the rock hits the water?  The rock and water are the junction points for the primary theme of your novel.  The ripples are the actions that are generated by that primary them.  Let's use my latest novel, Angels In Mourning, as an example.

This thriller uses a private detective as its protagonist.  I wanted a classic feel to the book, so I made him a noir style, 50's-60's somewhat hard boiled P.I., Set in a modern storyline.  The experience I used to build the story was a child abduction.  And for this, I used my own experience.

A quarter of a century earlier, my son was abducted my his mother, and disappeared for four months before the Private Investigator we hired found him.  I let this simmer in my head for a long time -- a very long time -- before I put this experience to work.

PUTTING LIFE EXPERIENCE TO WORK IN FICTION

In crafting my novel, I used this experience, but magnified it strongly.  Instead of a family abduction, it became a non-family abduction by a predator.   The emotions I had felt during the period my son was missing, served to fuel my writing and infuse the characters with emotion on the subject.  But, a good storyline needs more than one antagonist, two is okay, but more can be better -- if handled properly.

I used  the murder of my protagonist's best friend, to set up diverging lines of possibilities, each having the ability to flow toward separate conclusions, which is a good ploy to utilize to keep the reader flipping pages. 

Utilizing your life experiences in every aspect of your writing, be it newscasts that pique your interest, scenes you have come upon while out and about, such as car accidents, disturbances at sporting events, crimes that have been perpetrated on you or on acquaintances all can be used to strengthen and build your novel.

USING IMAGINATION WITH EXPERIENCE IN CRAFTING FICTION THRILLERS

Flying in an airplane and analyzing the passengers around you is a great method for character building.  Picture yourself in an airplane;  a man sitting near you has Middle Eastern features.  Imagine that during the flight, this man and several others take over the airplane.  They kill an older man who didn't obey them fast enough.  Then they hold the passengers hostage until the police negotiate and/or overtake them.

You wonder what happens to the man who was killed.  If it was your father, what would you do?  Those thoughts formed the basic idea for one of my thrillers, The Hyte Maneuver, which was a successful novel in both hardcover and paperback -- a serial Murder Thriller that focused on the surviving passengers of the hijacking.

MY FICTION WRITING EXPERIENCE

From my background, I've given you two examples of how to use life experience and your imagination to write a successful thriller.  You can bring your own experiences, no matter how trivial or how potent they may have been and draw on them to liven and heighten your writing, as I have done over the past 30 years.