Imagine: merged genres of Chick Lit + Thriller + Comedy. So...How to write a Thriller.

Imagine a novel that combines the genres of Chick Lit, Thriller, and Comedy! Wouldn't you want to read something that thrilled you, made you laugh, and was Girliefied? I would! (Naturally, I am a Girlie Girl...)

I normally don’t espouse merging genres - especially for a FIRST NOVEL - but I just can’t resist the chance to start my Chick Lit novel this way!

Ahem! you say. THRILLER mixed with Chick Lit? Harumph!!! Humphy Hoo Hoo! you may well say and spew and spittle, as if trying to clear your lovely, possibly bejeweled throat.

Right. I thought so, too, at first so I found a book I have on how to write Thrillers and made some notes.

Here we go.

Constructing the Thriller

1. You need to have a good story.

example: What I like to call Roller coaster ride madness. In my novel, Jara is trying to figure out who stabbed her almost-to-death and later trying to figure out whose body was in her best friend’s back yard before X carted off with it, kidnapping Jazhette – Jaz swears there was a body BUT nobody believes her except Jara – Jaz was kidnapped but escaped. The police think she’s just doing it for attention. Is she a pathological liar? For instance, to get what she wants? They tease her. She is known as a slut around town and her neighbors don’t like her much and tell these things to the cops, who don’t like her either. So none of them believe her. They see her as a sex pot, but that is true. ALSO: Chryssa thinks Sabrina has killed her boyfriend because he’s been MIA but she says he is in France. Chryssa finds proof and then Chryssa is killed. So then they think S killed C. And it goes on and on...into a swirl, a roller coaster ride of madness, a big thrill...

2. Write about the underdog.

3. Multiple points of view can give you great range in a thriller. (Jara, Jazhette, the killer X, Chyrssa’s journal, etc.)

4. Open your book with an action scene. I begin mine with a Thrilling Halloween party scene where Jara is stabbed by someone dressed as Casper the "Friendly" Ghost. Friendly? No.

5. Early on, make clear what your protagonist wants and what he fears.

Prologue: Jara wants to get a life. She has no life anymore. She’s lost everything. And to boot, she’s addicted to chocolate. She wants to be a writer so she decides to write a murder mystery. A murder mystery? How crazy and farfetched is that? Says S and Jaz to her. Yeah, Chryssa says, nothing like that would ever happen. Jara says I know, but wouldn’t it be thrilling? I would make it a whodunit.

Imagine. A Chick Lit merged with Comedy and a Thriller style. I love it.

Stay tuned...