“I didn’t pick my area of writing anymore than I chose to become a writer. …I love classic literature. And I’ve always had this dark imagination. I was the weird kid who was interested in that form in the window, or what lay under the stairs. I also have this ferocious curiosity about the human heart…. There’s no more an effective way to explore the depths of the human heart, than in the extreme circumstances of crime fiction.”
–Lisa Unger on how she came to write literary thrillers
Lisa goes on to say that, “When something awful happens, all the little conventions we spend so much energy to up hold are destroyed. In their being stripped away we’re taken to a base level.”
All stories hold an element of mystery and suspense, whatever the genre. I love reading mysteries and thrillers for not only the tensions the deliver, but also to improve my skill at crafting a novel piece-by-piece, one action building through cause-and-effect fashion on, and from another previously committed act.
The step-by-step process by which we craft our stories, and novels reflects the efforts of the serious writer at building her or his stories. Each writer/author has a unique process for doing this.
An important part of developing, and improving our craft is uncovering, and refining our particular process for writing stories. Once discovered we are no longer afraid of getting lost, or fear that we will experience writers’ block. We know the terrain.
The unknown of our stories, and novels no longer frightens us. And we are rendered more creative.
“Story is like life,” says literary thriller writer, wife, and mother, Lisa Unger. “I can tell you what I plan to do this afternoon. But I won’t actually be able to tell you what happened until afterward. I feel the same about writing fiction.”
How comfortable are you with hanging out in the unknown of your stories?
What questions of the human heart do your stories explore?