Anyone have good tips on writing a Conspiracy Thriller?

[kingaling]

I'm putting together a supernatural storyline that is based on an Assassin who's also a Sorcerer. Does anyone have any tips on what a Conspiracy Thriller should contain. I'm hoping to make this similar The Jason Bourne Series and could use some tips from people who've been there, or are struggling through something the same. Any tips would be of great help. Thanks.

[ballplayer72]

speaking strictly as an audience member, to me the mark of a good conspiracy thriller is the ability to figure it out before the main character.   However this has to be balanced otherwise it makes your novel lame.   For example:  Fight Club

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you didn't really know that Ed Norton was Brad Pitt and vice versa until the very end.  However in movie tyler pops up in multiple flashes.  And the narration passes tyler and follows him a bit when ed norton says :if you lose x number of hours etc. etc. when you wake up there could you be a different person?   When i first saw the movie I thought to myself "would'nt it be nuts if he was like werewolfing into brad pitt?  that would be crazy."  but i didn't KNOW or even have real proof until the end.   thats how it should work

[meg_evonne]

Does anyone have any tips on what a Conspiracy Thriller should contain.

uhmm  a good conspiracy?  sorry I'm in a snarky mood tonight.  Seriously, I've been a Deighton, Fleming, Ludlum, McInness, Follett, Brown, Clancy etc fan all my life.  In this genre--you either got the smarts or you don't. 

Oh and an incredible sense of place and the ability to share it in exciting dialog and description. 
An overwhelming ability to build and hold tension by the brilliance of your intellect. 
The ability to write action scenes that rock and never get boring.
The smarts to always stay one step ahead of your very intelligent readers.
Entertaining your readers while at the same time you thumb your nose in front of their face--and make them smile in the process because you are so brilliant.

That all leads back to the same thing...  brilliance in writing and a smart, snarky mind.  There is no way to fake it.  There is no way to stick things together with duck tape and think it will sail. 

Now, how do you physically do that?  Go to top and read ALL those books.  If you've done that and are still wondering what makes this kind of book work?  ..... better pick another genre.  This even has a cliff notes version... movies.  Again, if you can't chart it out in a movie.... better pick another genre. 

Good luck with all that!  :-) 

[kingaling]

uh..well. Yeah! Of course I need to know those things...but that's why I asked for tips. Like a guide to writing it. There are plenty of guides to writing standard mystery stories, but Conspiracy Thriller's have a lot more to them. That's why I was hoping for some details, not just vague "you need to know how to do this and that.." response.

[Paynesgrey]

Don't Twist just to have a twist.  Any twists, doublecrosses, etc, have to have some valid reason other than "Oh, shit!  I need to have a clever twist!"  Good guys gone bad, bad guys gone good, all have to have a compelling reason(s) which have been subtley worked into the story.  For a character to believably change their stripes, it's got to be through development that is at least quietly mentioned, rather than a sudden "oh, snoggfarblers ate his first daughter 40 years ago.  Didn't anybody but me know that until now?"

At all costs avoid "Hey, Anakin?  Ya wanna be evil?" "ummnn..no."  "C'mon, let's be evil. C'monnnnn." "Um...ok."

[Blaze]

Make the Antagonist SMART.  I really can't stand it when the bad guys act like idiots just so that the good guy can win. 

[Paynesgrey]

I think that's one of the hardest parts.  An author just can't create a character who's smarter than they are.  Might manage the illusion from time to time, but not a whole cast.

[Blaze]

Yes, you can write a character who is smarter than you are!  You have to cheat a little and get input from people who know more about a field than you do.  (For example, when I write a doctor character, I always discuss what she does with my family GP.) 

Since my background is in technical writing, I know that one can immerse oneself in a subject and be able to come across with a great deal of authority, even if you have not personally had first hand experience.

But mostly I was stating that when you have bad guys who suddenly shoot each other or act out of character in some way, simply ecause you need the plot to move along, that makes for a lame thriller.

How many people have just wanted the bad guy to blow Bond away instead of talking him to death?  Or, why in the world did the Emperor not realize that Vader might have his own agenda? 

Smart bad guys are difficult to write.  Smart likable bad guys are even more difficult to write.  But the rewards in having a smart likable evil dude is immeasurable.  And that would make for superior fiction.

[Paynesgrey]

Let me clarify that...I don't mean knowledge in a field smart, but cleverness smart, the general brain meat capability type of smart.

[Blaze]

Yeah, well the benefit is that the hero and villain will both be constrained by the author's smarts.  So they will be on a level playing field. 

[Paynesgrey]

Lol.  There is that, isn't there?  Of course, that's what makes a smart author a better read than a not-so-smart author. 

[Blaze]

You hit the nail on the head.

[meg_evonne]

Sorry I was so snarky in my first reply.  Blaze has it right.

Start out with your conspiracy base line plot (what is the bad guy's plan) and then shade in how the protaganist is going to weave in and out.  That's probably the best plan. 

The more intricate, well thought out, logical, devious--but only when it really furthers the baddies' plot, the better the hero will be. 

So start with a solid evil plot, with really interesting intelligent bad guys with motivation*--once it's iron clad and logical, then start foiling the attempt.  Does that make sense?  The additional shading would come from how the bad guys adapt to the hero's foils.

I'm currently working on a DaVinci Code for young adult, which I hope to have in someone's hands by April 15th.  It's thrilling and exciting.  That's how I came up with it.  Once your mind is working in a conspiracy fashion then it's a matter of figuring out how the hero pulls it apart to get the end mind-blowing last confrontation.

*don't overlook that the first motivation is never a single motivation but several.  The bad guys will each have their own motivations for being involved.  PLUS the best twist is when we find out a secret motivation of the main bad guy, who has kept the motivation secret from his own left hand person. --Those are the ones where only the psychopathic readers understand the psychopathic motivation (uhm think Hannibal Lecher) OR some classic books of this type--the motivation seems sound, but even the main bad guy doesn't understand his/her own unknown deep seated psychological motivation for doing the deed... 

Or another twist, 3/4s of the way through the bad guys (or one bad guy) realize(s) that their motivations are diverging from each other. So a hero vs bad guy, becomes a complicated mesh of hero vs bad guy vs bad guy--forcing an unlikely hero/bad guy alliance.  Yeah that would be a cool one too!  (hasn't 24 used this one?)  The reverse would be just as likely in real life.  hero and hero helper vs bad guy and the hero helper realizes that his motivation is going to drive him/her over to the bad guy's side, whether the bad guy knows it or not...

heck I could keep going on those for forever and ever.....  oh and don't forget.. MUST HAVE TICKING CLOCK DEADLINE!

Yeah, those would hook me in...

[LizW65]

Just remember, the best bad guys always think they're the good guys!

[meg_evonne]

Way to go Liz!!  ditto that thought!