Having written and published 33 novels, I have some experience writing fiction. The question I get most often when I do book signings and author talks is: how do you craft a story?

USING LIFE EXPERIENCE TO CREATE FICTION

The answer is simple: I draw from my own life experiences like any good writer does. Look at the plot of a story as you would the ripples in a pond. What happens when the rock hits the water? Rock and water are the junction points of the main theme of his novel. The waves are the actions that are generated by that primary. Let’s use my latest novel, Mourning Angels, as an example.

This thriller stars a private detective. I wanted to give the book a classic feel, so I made it noir, a bit of a hardcore private investigator from the ’50s and ’60s, set in a modern story. The experience that I used to build the story was the kidnapping of a child. And for this, I used my own experience.

A quarter of a century before, my son was kidnapped by his mother and disappeared for four months before the Private Detective found him. I let this simmer in my head for a long, long time before I put this experience to work.

PUTTING LIFE EXPERIENCE TO WORK IN FICTION

In writing my novel, I used this experience, but greatly magnified it. 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 about the subject. But, a good story needs more than one antagonist, two is fine, but more can be better, if handled properly.

I used the murder of my protagonist’s best friend to establish divergent lines of possibility, each with the ability to flow to separate conclusions, which is a good plot to keep the reader turning the pages.

Use your life experiences in all aspects of your writing, whether it is news reports that pique your interest, scenes you encountered while out and about, such as car accidents, riots at sporting events, crimes committed against you or acquaintances. It can be used to strengthen and build your novel.

USING IMAGINATION WITH EXPERIENCE IN CREATING FICTIONAL THRILLERS

Flying in an airplane and analyzing the passengers around you is a great method of building character. Imagine yourself on a plane; a man sitting near you has Middle Eastern features. Imagine that during the flight, this man and several others take charge of the plane. They kill an old man who did not obey them fast enough. They then take the passengers hostage until the police negotiate and/or catch up with them.

You wonder what happens to the man who was murdered. If I were your father, what would you do? Those thoughts formed the basic idea of ​​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 EXPERIENCE IN FICTION WRITING

From my experience, I have 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 powerful, and use them to enliven and enhance your writing, as I have for the past 30 years.