[crich70]

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'd say use humor sparingly to break tension if it gets too high. If you use it too much then the story becomes slapstick.

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

To a certain extent real people do sometimes appear in fictional stories but you have to be very careful especially when you have living people involved. Otherwise you can find yourself the defendant in a lawsuit.

#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 it would make a story more intense and full of tension if the hero slowly builds up to what the baddie is doing. You see it all the time in TV shows like "Criminal Minds." Someone is missing or a body is found and the team investigates it. Then it turns out that what was thought to be one crime is actually multiple crimes and then the race is on to find clues that point to who the killer is before he/she can kill their next victim.