Categories of Suspense: Political Thrillers

T. Macdonald Skillman's book, WRITING THE THRILLER, outlines eight categories of suspense. I'm discussing Political Thrillers today.

Again, this category is fairly easy to identify. If the subject matter is political at the heart, it falls in this category. Think treason. Spies. Murder plots against political figures. Coups to overthrow dictators and despots. Terrorist activities. Think Tom Clancy. (Oh, wait. He's techno-thriller AND political thriller--yet another example of the overlap in these categories.) Others include A COFFIN FOR DIMITRIOS by Eric Ambler, THE KEY TO REBECCA by Ken Follett, and THE RUSSIA HOUSE by Jon le Carre.

"From Watergate to the Iran-Contra and Lewinsky scandals, the intrigue and behind-the-scenes shenanigans of elected or appointed officials is always fertile ground for political thrillers," Skillman says. And these stories do well in the market-place. Be wary, writers! These types of novels require extensive research in the areas of political science, world economics, and history, not to mention current affairs. Readers in this category know the political scene and expect the authors to get it right.
-Sonja

Categories of Suspense: Medical Thrillers

Again, I'm probing the depths of wisdom in T. Macdonald Skilman's book, WRITING THE THRILLER. Today we're looking at the definition of Medical Thrillers.

It's pretty self-explanatory. Skillman says: "Doomsday viruses, chemical weapons, research scientists run amok, terrorists in possession of anthrax and God knows what other twentieth- and twenty-first-century plagues. Other plots that fit this category might involve managed care providers who decide senior citizens should die early as a cost-cutting measure, or otherwise manipulate the system for the sake of the bottom line. Unethical medical personnel, power-huntry surgeons, nurses with vendettas, aides prematurely sending terminal patients to their final reward."

Sometimes the genres blend a little. A medical thriller dealing with politics could easily be labeled a political thriller. A medical thriller that takes place in space is science fiction. But if the primary focus is medical crisis, it's a medical thriller. A few books from this category are HARVEST and LIFE SUPPORT by Tess Gerritsen, COMA by Robin Cook, THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN by Michael Crichton, and PANDORA'S CLOCK by John J. Nance.

For what it's worth,
Sonja

Categories of Suspense: Action-Adventure

Due to a goof on my part, my blog posts haven't been posting. Here's last Thursday's post:

I'm pulling all the goodness from T. Macdonald Skillman's book, WRITING THE THRILLER, before I have to return it to the library. In the next several posts I'll be discussing the eight categories of suspense, as identified by Skillman.

Today's category is Action-Adventure. Hollywood loves these babies and spits them out at regular intervals: Armageddon, Deep Impact, Speed, Dante's Peak, Twister. You'll note the absence of aliens and space ships. Those are science fiction. You'll also note that some of these films have an element of mystery to them. But for the most part, these movies inflict a powerful emotional response on the viewer and thus fall into the suspense genre.

Action-adventure suspense novels are full of renegade cops, or military men, or cultic kidnappers, or heroic citizens desperately trying to carve out a satisfactory existence after a natural disaster. Think Indiana Jones. Jason Bourne. Rambo.

In this category, romantic entanglements are brief or non-existent. The hero just doesn't have time to court a beautiful woman when the fate of the world hangs in the balance. In the movie Speed, the hero courts the damsel WHILE he's trying to save the city. For the most part, though, readers know the female lead probably won't get very far in her quest for a man who pays adequate attention to her.

Many action-adventure heroes are recurring series characters. Think James Bond or Dirk Pitt. These guys are larger-than-life protagonists who survive the most dastardly villains and elaborate murder plots. Skillman says, "It's their exploits and the danger to other characters that have kept fans intrigued through multiple books." Other books in this category include Mark Beret's EAGLE STATION and W.E.B. Griffin's Brotherhood of War series.

That's the quick definition of Action-Adventure suspense. 

-Sonja

Categories of Suspense: Legal Thrillers

Due to a major goof on my part, last Monday's post never showed up. Here it is:

T. Macdonald Skillman's book, WRITING THE THRILLER, lists eight categories of suspense novels. Today I'll look at her discussion of Legal Thrillers.

Legal Thrillers focus on legal matters. John Grisham's book THE FIRM centers on an ambitious young lawyer and the predicament that ambition thrusts him into. Another of Grisham's books, A TIME TO KILL, deals with a beleaguered attorney and the build-up to a crucial trial.

Other scenarios that qualify as legal thrillers include jury tampering, lawyers, judges, jury members, threatened witnesses, investigations into legal ethics, and military court settings (anyone remember "You can't handle the truth!") Other books in this category include William Bernhardt's ben Kincaid series, Perri O'Shaughnessy's Nina Reilly series, and Scott Turow's PRESUMED INNOCENT.

Basically, if the story focuses on legal matters, it's a legal thriller. Seems simple enough.

-Sonja

Mystery vs. Suspense Part 6

To my three loyal readers, I apologize for the lateness of these posts. I switched blogging sites and forgot to change the address in my contacts. My bad. Now that you've had to wait for it, here's the last post about Carolyn Wheat's list of 16 differences between mystery and suspense. You can find this list in Wheat's book HOW TO WRITE KILLER FICTION. It's also reprinted in T. Macdonald Skillman's book WRITING THE THRILLER.
Difference number fifteen: Mystery endings must be intellectually satisfying. Suspense endings must provide emotional satisfaction.

I touched on this briefly in a previous post: readers want a chance to solve the mystery themselves. When a writer cheats and leaves out a valuable clue, there is no intellectual satisfaction at the close of the book. A good mystery always leaves the reader feeling like an intellectual giant. Or at least a pretty good detective. In addition to doling out the appropriate clues, readers like to learn something new when they read mysteries: a forensic detail, a ballistics fact, a medical term, a historical tidbit, a scientific discovery. At the end of a good mystery, I feel more knowledgable about the world than I was before I read the book.

Suspense books provide emotional satisfaction. That doesn't always mean a happy ending. (spoiler alerts) In SPHERE, several characters die and Beth betrays her comrades. In CARRIE, nearly everyone ends up dead. But wow, did we readers love to see Carrie get her revenge! Those bad guys, Chris and Billy, got what were coming to them. Happy endings are satisfying, too. in Michael Crichton's TIMELINE, Chris, Kate, and the professor make it back to modern times. The historian who wanted to stay in the past, Andre, got his wish. The end of the book provided the appropriate closure for the characters I cared about the most.
That wraps up my discussion on the differences between mysteries and suspense stories. Stay tuned for an exploration of the categories of suspense novels.

-Sonja

Mystery vs. Suspense Part 5

Again, I'm looking at Carolyn Wheat's list of 16 differences between mystery and suspense. You can find this list in Wheat's book HOW TO WRITE KILLER FICTION. It's also reprinted in T. Macdonald Skillman's book WRITING THE THRILLER.

Difference number nine: In a mystery, information is withheld. In suspense novels, information is provided.

Mysteries always involve clues. Given all at once, the fun's over. So the good mystery writer withholds the clues and dispenses them one by one over a period of time. Suspects lie. Witnesses flee. Crime labs take time to analyze clues and spit out results. Some clues turn out to be non-clues, or red herrings. Other clues are hidden in plain sight. Eventually, enough clues have been parceled out so the reader and the protagonist can solve the crime.

In suspense, the information is provided to elicit an emotional response. Think of JAWS. The viewer knows the shark is in the water. The viewer knows the young swimmer is clueless about the shark's presence. Providing this information leaves the viewer feeling anxious for the health and well-being of the swimmer.

Another example is the book CARRIE by Stephen King. The reader knows Carrie has the power to avenge her humiliation. We also know that antagonists Chris and Billy are planning to humiliate Carrie at the prom. The information about Carrie's powers, the events leading up to the prom, the prom, and the aftermath are all provided to give the reader a powerful emotional response. That's suspense.

For what it's worth.

-Sonja

Mystery vs. Suspense Part 4

Once again, I'm copying from Carolyn Wheat's list of 16 differences between mystery and suspense. You can find this list in Wheat's book HOW TO WRITE KILLER FICTION. It's also reprinted in T. Macdonald Skillman's book WRITING THE THRILLER. But no matter where you read it from, the list is an excellent resource.

Difference number eight is this: Readers of mysteries are looking for clues. Readers of suspense are expecting surprises.

In a mystery, part of the thrill for the reader is trying to figure out whodunit before the final reveal. Nothing beats the elation of thinking I've solved the crime before the protagonist has. Or the "a-ha" moment when I realize I was cleverly lead astray but have now uncovered the truth. Nothing's worse than getting to the end of a mystery and realizing the author cheated by leaving out a vital clue, and I had absolutely no chance of solving it on my own. The best mystery writers embed all the vital clues into the story so carefully that sometimes they don't look like actual clues. The old hiding-in-plain-sight trick. But no matter how they do it, the reader feels like an amateur detective for that short period of time.

Suspense books might or might not have a mystery involved, but the clues aren't the important part of the journey. It's the surprise. The unexpected. The gibberish-inducing fear. The nervous giggle. The nausea-inspiring, sleep-with-the-light-on-for-three-days terror. The white-knuckled grip on the book and you can't relax enough to put the book down even though it's three a.m. and the kids will demand breakfast at seven. It's the emotional roller coaster you go through every time you pick up a Stephen King or a Michael Crichton or a Robert Ludlum book.

In suspense, it's all in the emotions.

-Sonja

Mystery vs. Suspense Part 3

I'm discussing the differences between mystery and suspense, blatantly stealing content from Carolyn Wheat, as presented in T. Macdonald Skillman's book WRITING THE THRILLER. (Side note: Carolyn Wheat also put her list of 16 differences in her book HOW TO WRITE KILLER FICTION. It's a great resource for anyone's resource library. I just don't have it in front of me at the moment, so I'm copying it out of Skillman's book. Before I get started on today's post, I want to say that I won't be covering all 16 differences in these posts--check out one or both of these books from your local library if you'd like the entire list.)

Number six on Wheat's list is this: The most important action in a mystery takes place offstage. In suspense, the important action happens onstage.

In a mystery, the inciting crime almost never occurs on the pages for the reader to experience first-hand. The crime usually happens before the protagonist steps in to solve it. (Note: In those instances where the reader gets to witness the crime first-hand, we don't know the identity of the killer. That's the puzzle the reader--and the protagonist--are trying to figure out.) In J.D. Robb's mystery NAKED IN DEATH, homicide lieutenant Eve Dallas is called to the scene of the crime. We see it through her eyes: the dead woman shot in her own bed. As the book progresses, we learn (with Dallas) all the details of the crime that took place offstage, before the book began: who, what, where, how, and most importantly, why.

In suspense, the scary stuff happens to the protagonist, and the reader gets to experience all the anticipation, confusion, terror, and nerve-wracking tensions as the protagonist experiences them. In Michael Crichton's book SPHERE, we experience the scientist's terror as they struggle to stay alive in a hostile environment against a powerful and temperamental entity they call Jerry. Our heart races as Beth and Norman try to figure out how to neutralize Jerry and get safely home. (spoiler alert) All our spit dries up when the book ends with Beth's creepy smile.

There will always be overlap in these genres. SPHERE had a mystery to solve. The IN DEATH series almost always puts Lieutenant Eve Dallas in a dangerous situation. But this definition holds: if the main crime took place offstage and there's a puzzle to solve, it's a mystery. If the reader gets to experience the protagonist's emotional state (usually involving terror and dread), it's a suspense.

For what it's worth.

-Sonja