[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

More questions about Thrillers.

#1) How do you feel about using A LOT of humor in them? Opinions on this?
(I'm planning on using so much zany stuff that it will not be "real"istic at all.)

I put this in the Janet Evanovich category, which to me, removes it entirely from the "Thriller" category. That in and of itself is not bad...but I think a thriller is a thriller, not a comedy. Can a thriller have comedic relief, or elements? Yes, but once it turns into slapstick, like the Stephanie Plums, they are a different type of reading. I feel that a thriller should be suspenseful, not making me LOL. Hunt for Red October, not One for the Money. I also think that the moment you lose the suspension of disbelief--the "reality"--for a thriller, the book kicks the bucket. If the whole point of a thriller is to be thrilled, how thrilled can we be if there's no goal? No devastation? No fear? Nothing hanging in the balance? Are you sure it's a thriller you want to write?

#2) Can I mention celebrities, have stuff happen to them? (eg. Have my protagonist interact with Lindsey Lohan?)

That's a question for a lawyer. If you say your protagonist walks past Lindsay Lohan, no one will care. If you say she trips over her, while Lindsay is laying passed out on the floor of a bathroom in a nightclub, I suspect you'll have difficulties. You'd be far better off using made-up celebrities; if for no other reason than, ten years down the road, the "hot celeb du jour" will date your novel.

#3) With the dastardly evil deed that my antagonist is planning (and which my protagonist will fight to foil), is it best to have my protagonist get on to this evil deed pretty much right away, or would it be better if she only became aware of it slowly? And if it's the latter, how slowly? Within the first 5% of the book? The first 10%? Whatever?

I think that this is a question for either your writing coach or your critique group, or a writing class. I mean...this is kind of what your plotting the book is all about, right? Creating the suspense? How you do it is the trick that makes everyone want to read it. If we get to dictate the terms, it won't be very suspenseful, will it? At least, not for us! ;-) FWIW, I don't think anyone cares how rapidly or slowly your heroine learns all the details of the plot, as long as the ride along the way is brisk.

Thank you!

You betcha.

Hitch