Writing thrills, chills and spills...

In this Queensland Writers Centre workshop, you’ll learn about different types of thrillers and effective techniques for constructing one – particularly how to stretch tension across the page and an entire story’s arc. We’ll examine character development, and key hooks that keep your reader excited about your story and begging for more!

Learning outcomes

Participants will learn about:

Different sub-genres of thrillers, and their distinctive elements
Hooking your reader from page one
Structuring a story to keep readers turning pages
Investing thriller characters with facets that encourage connection
Pacing tension throughout a story for maximum enjoyment
Writing techniques that create suspense
Research strategies for creating local and international stories

Format

This is an online workshop with a focus on craft; it will be hosted via Zoom. This workshop is suitable for writers of all levels and writing backgrounds.

About Ellie

Ellie Marney is an internationally bestselling and multi-award-winning author of thrillers. Her titles include the New York Times bestseller NONE SHALL SLEEP, the Kirkus-starred sequel SOME SHALL BREAK, and the CBCA-awarded THE KILLING CODE, as well as eight other novels for young people. She has spent a lifetime researching in mortuaries, interviewing former law enforcement officers and autopsy specialists, and asking former spies how to make explosives out of household items – now she lives quite sedately north of Melbourne with her family while she writes her next book.