Want to write a thriller? Your protagonist better have a secret that somebody knows and is threatening to reveal. For instance, here is how five new novels are described in a recent edition of Bookreporter.com’s newsletter:
“Terrified,” by Kevin O’Brien – Megan Keeler ran away from her sadistic husband years ago and when remains were found near their house he was convicted of murder. She started a new life, but someone knows her secret…
“The Expats,” by Chris Pavone – Kate Moore is a working mother struggling to make ends meet and maintain an increasingly unbearable life-defining secret.
“Force of Nature,” by C. J. Box – Nate Romanowski was in a secret Special Forces unit abroad when a colleague did something terrible. Now high up in the government, the man is determined to eliminate anyone who knows his secret.
“Dead Low Tide,” by Bret Lott – A page-turner about murder and family secrets…Huger Dillard must come to terms with and confront the truth about his community, his past, and the mysterious place he calls home.
Harlan Coben has pretty much built his career on people having to deal with secrets. The description of his new one, “Stay Close,” reads, "three people living lives they never wanted, hiding secrets that even those closest to them would never suspect, will find that the past doesn't recede. Even as the terrible consequences of long-ago events crash together in the present and threaten to ruin lives, they will come to the startling realization that they may not want to forget the past at all."
Of course it’s logical that a thriller or mystery novel would feature events and facts people don’t want to have revealed, but the “secret from the past coming to the surface now” structure seems to have turned into almost a formula. Here’s a typical structure:
- Describe protagonist’s new life
- Quickly hint at a terrible secret
- Someone who knows the secret threatens to reveal it (usually anonymously)
- The protagonist has to figure out who knows the secret
- The secret threatens to destroy the protagonist’s new life
- The protagonist is forced to face the secret
- Confrontation with the person who knows the secret
- The twist: it wasn’t the protagonist’s fault – she has been carrying a false burden all these years
- The defeat of the person threatening to reveal the secret
- Resumption of the protagonist’s life, now freed of the weight of the secret
Obviously, readers like “secret” stories. Maybe it’s because our own embarrassing secrets pale into insignificance compared to the ones we encounter in these books.
Does the popularity of a structure like this mean that you shouldn’t use it because it has been overdone? Well, that depends. Let the story you want to tell develop. If it happens to fall into a familiar structure but you can add a fresh angle as well as good writing, that’s fine; otherwise, dare to write a story that breaks some new ground.
(Do you want tips from the best writers of all time? I've collected advice from Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Vonnegut as well as classic masters like Twain, Dickens and Austen and related it to how to write a book today. It's in m book, "Your Creative Writing Masterclass," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon and other booksellers.)