I’m not a bestselling thriller author, so why write this article?
Because for anyone writing a solid thriller, there is a chance I’m in your target audience as a thriller reader and watcher.
Legal, medical, psychological, horror, action, romantic…I’m all for these thriller subgenres and more.
I consume quite a bit of it, and when I’m finally confident in my idea and story, I’ll also write thrillers. (But I am slightly more in love with writing romance, so those next books will get written first.)
I find thrillers a very tricky genre to write as the audience usually has very high expectations, has already seen many variations of your characters, conflicts, and main concept. They are sick of seeing certain twists, tropes, and character and event types.
For instance, I am not fond of amnesia, whether I come across it in a thriller, romance, or romantic thriller.
So, while you’re obviously free to write the story you want to write, it will help you to keep in mind audience expectations, and what will possibly disappoint them. And I’m by no means the only thriller fan who doesn’t want to see the tropes I’ll mention below.
This list is short and unexhaustive. But avoiding these three (or finding satisfying ways to justify them) will improve your story and please your readers.
Ready? Let’s get ready to thrill and be thrilled.
Stupid protagonists that make it really hard to root for their survival
This is truly the bane of my existence as a fan of the genre.
Look, I get it. It’s your job as a thriller writer to put your protagonists in increasingly dangerous situations. And we are only human. Fueled by stress, adrenalin and fear, we are likely to make some irrational decisions.
But, and this is a crucial but, there is humanly stupid/afraid… then there is intolerable idiot.
I’ll give you an example.
Let’s say you are in the wilderness and you run into a huge, angry bear. What do you do?
I’m by no means claiming that I can survive that with my body and integrity intact. I’d probably die from a heart attack. Or throw up and freeze. Angry bears are scary as hell!
But I can tell you what I most definitely wouldn’t do. I wouldn’t antagonize the bear on purpose or attempt to fight it with my bare hands.
Heard a noise when alone in the house? Why would you call out hello? Are you freaking kidding me? You stay quiet, check around with a potential weapon like a baseball bat or something heavy and call for help on your phone.
Or better yet, hide and call the cops. Don’t say hello. This is not a cute stranger at a coffee shop. This is a potential intruder. And in case you are saying it might be a friend, write better friends. You know, those who aren’t likely to drop in announced in the middle of the night, making all sorts of weird and loud noises.
But this is not the only dumb thing most thriller main characters do, is it?
They hide their spare key under a mattress. I mean, regardless of the genre, unless the movie takes place in the safest town of a country like Norway, or you created a utopia where crime doesn’t exist, don’t make your characters put a key where it will be easily found.
And if you do make them put a spare key for anyone to find, for the love of all you hold dear, please don’t make them act angry, surprised, or scared when someone unwelcome comes in.
And the award for the dumbest action, though, goes to characters who aren’t particularly big, strong, or fast. They don’t know martial arts. They don’t know how to shoot a gun. They can’t parkour. They can’t lift grown men. They don’t have any sleuthing or policing skills.
And yet, when they are suspicious, they don’t call the cops. Or hire a PI. Or even talk to a bunch of friends and take them along. Taking your friends into dangerous places is still stupid, but way smarter than going alone and unprepared.
These characters go into buildings that are about to crumble. Buildings so dangerous that you don’t need a ghost or a serial killer to put you in danger. And then they die or get seriously injured. And what do you think the audience feels when this happens? How do you feel when this happens?
Don’t make your characters act stupid.
If you do, make sure you compensate for this in another way.
Maybe your character is depressed and isn’t afraid to die. Maybe he/she is a daredevil and the adrenalin rush makes up for all the threats according to them.
Maybe they are so desperate that there is a bigger chance to survive whatever/whoever is after them that they enter into a dark alley without so much as a car key.
Then yes, you might get a pass. But be aware you’d be walking a thin line.
And if thrillers have shown us anything, if the protagonist is a therapist, the worse we need to expect. And this brings us to mistake #2:
– Incompetent/unethical/irrational/evil therapist characters
Many thrillers love a therapist who is (un)intentionally bad at their job for some reason. Cough, Intersection, cough.
In Final Analysis (1992), Richard Gere’s therapist sleeps with Kim Basinger, who happens to be his patient’s sister. Look, we all get how hot Basinger is, but you gotta keep it in your pants for the sake of your profession.
Of course, this will lead him down a very dangerous path. Are we surprised or scared about anything that happens to him? Not really. And I love Richard Gere.
The 90s are filled with movies from different genres where there is a prominent therapist character who sleeps with a patient. Unethical, bad, and irrational all in one.
Lots of dangerous things happen to this therapist, and you’re like, yeah, whatever man. Let the psycho get him/her. Or let them be fired or whatever.
It’s hard enough to convince people about the validity of therapy and the existence of good therapists without pop culture shoving more fictional bad therapists down our throats.
If you are writing a therapist, it might be a good idea to not make them sleep with patients or patient relatives.
If a therapist has a therapist, this is a good sign. It means they walk the walk. Would you trust a doctor who didn’t go to a doctor when they were sick?
You get bonus points for making your therapist deal with emotionally taxing situations in ways they’d recommend their patients.
Not making your therapist live an isolated life or having them lead a co-dependent and/or toxic relationship would also be a nice change.
I’m not saying all therapists are good at their jobs or taking their own advice. But we have seen enough incompetent and/or bad therapists who make terrible life choices during the entire story.
– Stupid villains
Stupid villains underestimate their enemies and loved ones.
They are impulsive and are bad at making critical decisions.
They have horrible timing.
They forget to check things and take precautions.
They overestimate themselves.
They surround themselves with people who can catch them.
***
Your characters don’t need to be super intelligent. But a little common sense goes a long way when they are planning things or reacting to things.
What about you? What thriller writing choices drive you up the wall as a writer or reader of the genre?
I totally agree about stupid protagonists – irritating gits. They are the ones that I have come across that annoy me the most. Frequently a woman, sometimes with children that she leaves at home with a teenage babysitter, no self defence skills whatsoever. Or they get reactively oppositional to any suggestion that a man makes about their safety and charge headlong into extremely dangerous situations. It is offensive to intelligent women.
I know, right? They don’t have to be super smart. They don’t even have to run fast or be tough. Just do the bare minimum and use common sense. Thanks so much for commenting. 🙂