My New Thriller Writing Process

[@tylower]

Love hearing you think out loud. More process, please.

[@thefrancophilereader8943]

You're a writing machine. Congratulations on finishing your first thriller!

[@a.gunter2893]

Thank you for sharing. :) I once read that 60% mark is called "The Rule of Two-thirds" where a writer (pantsing or plotting or plosting) will write to that moment of realization, stop, revise what they've already written, and then finish the first draft. I read that in Writer's Digest Magazine 20+ years ago. ... That moment you can count your life in decades. O_O

[@niknieblas]

I LOVE that I found someone specifically talking about thrillers. This is great. I’m writing a thriller script right now and these thoughts you’re bringing up have been great.

[@miracrapark]

I feel like I could listen to her talk for hours

[@glauciabatista4404]

I loved this video. I'm currently writting a thriller. I'm only nineteen years old, but thriller has always been my passion and recently I came up with an interesting story and I thought it had to be developed.

[@aayushipriya0216]

Great job, mate. I also wrote a thriller and I'm looking forward to the second one (by the way, I'm only 13).

[@glauciabatista4404]

@@aayushipriya0216 Congratulations. It's really nice to see that there are young talents in literature going after development. I wish you all the best. I am from Brazil, and it took me many years to consider publishing a book, principally because it is expensive and students are not estimulated in any kind of talent, much less at high school. I wrote my very first poem when I was your age, and it was for a Homework. Because I was never encouraged, I used to throw my poems in the trash right after writting them. You probably don't live this same context, and should be glad if you had a supportive enviroment for your talent to even be noticed. Brazil has a lot of problems and it's a pitty we waste so many talents by not having an educational system that could make it true to a kid that he or she can really be whatever he or she wants. But in Brazil, that is for sure one of the worst lies you can tell someone. During this quarantine, I wrote a tragedy, and I might try to publish it as well. Again, congratulations for going after development. I wish all the best in your writer career.

[@beebuzz959]

As long as you feel it's worth it to you, keep writing! If anything just to help create the habit and to strengthen your skills. Your input is valuable in whatever way you express it! And be easy on yourself for having thrown your work away, I know you said it to explain how you used to listen to the negativity, but the main thing is you were writing, and you've learned and grown from that person. You wouldn't be who you are, have the sensitivities you do, without having done it. Just keep saving them and see their value, and the value of your actions, as much as you can now.

[@LauraWrites]

I just had a revelation about my current WIP while watching this! Wooo!!

[@ilrayali6121]

This process is so like mine. I often know the concept and I need a twist and/or ending before I feel solid enough to continue writing. Also for the first time ever I finished a book in 4 moths! I credit the star stickers for that, they're super motivating. Keep on going with writing and writing vlogs!

[@gike2755]

Loving the process talk! Please keep 'em coming.

[@janed3148]

Hi, Alexa, I've been binging your channel for a few weeks now, so just wanted to thank you for the content! I've also purchased Brightly Burning (Online cause I'm writing this from the Netherlands, hehe), I started reading it today and I find it to have a really light and easy tone! Excited for the new content and books, and really eager to get to that thriller someday!!😉

[@mrandisg]

My best friend/co-author and I have very similar writing processes. Neither of us can draft a book in chronological order--we both have to let our brains play and jump around in the timeline, writing whatever pops into our heads at the time. We then piece everything together afterward and hammer out a definitive plot. We make notes as we go; we edit as we go; we do a lot of things as we go! lol It's just more fun that way. We both discovered when we tried to force ourselves to outline or write linearly that we immediately stalled out because our brains just don't work that way. It's so much fun to talk about and hear about writing processes! Everyone is unique, so what works for one person won't work for another, but sometimes you can pick up ideas from fellow authors and apply them to your own process, so it really does help! Thanks for sharing! 😊

[@lucascrafes5580]

I didn’t watch the video yet and I’m excited

[@mikaylamarks7361]

I’ve come to a similar revelation. I used to be a pancer but now am more of a plotter/discovery writer. And it all started with working backwards because my middle act was just the hardest thing to work out. I love all your advice:) thank you!

[@lunakenton1722]

Thank you so much for this, this is truly godsend!

[@absenceofcolour]

Alexa... god bless you. You just totally fixed something I had wrong in my own thriller manuscript!!!!

[@sophiekearing6600]

Thank you for sharing this process with us, Alexa! My pantsing is evolving as well. Happy writing! ✍️❤️

[@gravitv252]

This was helpful. Thanks Alexa Donne. 👏👏👏👏♥️

[@SensibleSoulHealing]

I love hearing your thought processes. I would normally totally agree with the dont go back and edit while your writing the bulk of the book, but I HAD to the other day with my first chapter.😂 I had made the attempt to write with my son in the car. That's a no go.

[@ThePrettyTomboy]

I always thought of myself as a pantser, but for this book I'm trying more intense plotting tools (beat sheet + spreadsheet). The beat sheet is great for more macro-level plotting (I realized I did not understand plot well before reading Save the Cat Writes a Novel this month lol), and I like having approximate mini word count goals to work toward. The spreadsheet helps me keep my micro-level plotting from getting too bogged down in small details (ironically), or else from glossing over good scenes that I would otherwise just narrate. I used to write more like headlights off in the middle of the night on a new moon, so now I actually know where I'm going! It's really cool being able to visualize my book as a whole and as a growing scene-by-scene entity. I hope that by being organized with this book, it won't be such a h*cking mess like my last two. 😁

[@joemoone85]

Thanks, Alexa. I really enjoyed listening to how you thought these things out. You actually sound more of an outliner than you let on 😉. I’m working on an urban fantasy using a process that sounds a lot like what you talk about here. It’s great to find I’m not really all that far from what real authors do.

[@JeanetHenning]

I'd love to see an update on your writing process in the future as well.

[@AnnHarrisonAuthor]

Your video made me ask questions that I hadn't even thought of. Thanks.

[@moonpetrie]

“Killer Who” sounds like “Murder In Whoville.” I love hearing about this process. I’ve never written a thriller or mystery but I’d love to.

[@chrissye9720]

I've always wanted to read your writing because I love your videos, but I'm really not into sci fi or fantasy. Now that you're writing thriller books (my favourite genre) I can't wait to finally buy one of your books!

[@BayleyMae]

This came at such a perfect time! I love getting to hear about your writing process!!

[@SiiKei]

I'm four years into writing my murder mystery (quite close to quering) and for a long time, I thought my book was pantsed all the way through. Yesterday I found the notebook with the first ideas for my novel and I was dumbstruck. It had everything in it: conflict, motive, goals, character relationships, voice, theme, character arcs, even character-specific gestures. What it didn't have was a chapter by chapter outline (I only did those when I was stuck and for 5-6 chapters maybe). So because I didn't plot in the traditional sense, I struggled for years and years by pushing and pulling my book with each edit to finally express some themes and revelations. Except it turned out everything had been planned from the beginning. Oops, there go 3 years of blindly editing when it was all just staring in my face. /jk Your roadmap process seems very similar to mine.

[@elizabethwaters8507]

In my current WIP, I wrote the first two chapters them skipped to the last chapter (the HEA, since it's a romance) and wrote chronologically backwards from there until I ran out of steam. That happened two days ago, at about 25k, so I went back to chapter 2 and now I'm writing chronologically forward.

[@kaylajames9334]

Elizabeth Waters smart.

[@laufsteakmodel]

@Alexa .. Is your first thriller going to be published? If you said it in one of your videos i guess is missed it (even though i watched like 40 of your videos in the last 3 weeks since i started writing again recently). Oh and also. How long do you usually take to get from the idea to starting to write? You said like "then i figured this out which unlocked this and that and so on" but how long is this process actually?

[@AlexaDonne]

My agent is going to submit it to publishers, so hopefully! But I won't have any update on that until at least this fall, since I am still editing it.

[@laufsteakmodel]

@@AlexaDonne Oh :D you already answered. Shoulda refreshed before i edited my question (and added the second part ;) )

[@nviz47]

Its great to hear your process, its helpful and fun and informative :) congrats!

[@thedawsonian9094]

Really enjoy your vids, definitely helpful with my first book. Many thanks for what you do 👍🏻

[@imaginieiota6298]

That's really helpful!! Thanks 😊

[@amy-suewisniewski6451]

This is so interesting! I've been brainstorming a thriller but almost in the opposite way and having a hard time fitting it all together. Your process really made me think about how I need to re-focus my thoughts to unlock the story. I was wondering if, for a future video, you'd consider talking more about the make-up of thrillers in general? Watching your process with you writing one has been so insightful! It feels to me like thrillers are the next "fad" right now in YA, or at least a mini fad and I wonder what the differences are between YA thrillers and Adult thrillers. I was wondering also just little things about thrillers. I see a lot of standalone thrillers, but are there many thriller series? Why or why not? What is the big difference between a thriller and a mystery or horror? I don't mean to presume that you have all the answers, but I always appreciate your thoughts and I think you're versed enough in the industry to see more of the highlights than we do.

[@amy-suewisniewski6451]

@@blueskye2790 I really like thrillers, and I think I always have but I never knew what they were or how to articulate that until I was older. I thought I had a handle on it, and then when I considered writing one, I feel like I know nothing! You're so right about other genres being more prevalent. I'm confident in what a YA Fantasy is and what it looks like, YA contemporary, even YA Sci-Fi, but Thriller feels like a whole new beast.

[@nicolegroshek7223]

Do you have a video (or could you make one?) about writing red herrings? That's something I'm struggling with now!

[@DanicaChristin]

Would love to see you vlog writing this book as well 👍🏻

[@lindapenttinen3382]

I would like to add murder mystery as part of my story but I fear it would make the story too confusing.

[@michellekay2841]

You just be uploading 😍😍😍

[@mischiefmakerstudios9900]

I love your video! Why? I have done writing this way before, but I didn’t know others did it.While, I did it towards screen writing. Naturally all my screen plays were rejected. Not because they were bad either. Most had the same complaint. I do not have an agent. Only one wrote back telling me “learn how to type, then we’ll talk.” (I still can not believe I sent a 175 paged screen play to a Director written by hand & in pencil. Well, live & learn as they say.” Yet I had “an aha moment during this video. Not making it up. I had quit working on my idea for a book I called “The Not So Imaginary Super Hero Adventure” & I realize this needs an opening teaser. I had written this a bit different then I usually write. Usually I write by thinking up a title first which usually leads to my story later. The opening was very different because I had planned on writing a horror story, but it’s become a super hero story now & I realize this is a comic now too. I still half to create more characters for the story, but I know most of the story now. I really appreciate this video, because I see what I am doing is normal. I just really, really need more practice at writing now, keep making these inspirational videos & I will keep watching them! Who knows? Thanks to you, I might even get a book published, sooner or later, I hope!

[@seleciaa]

Props to you for working on yet another book! Are you planning to vlog for it as well?

[@RoseKindred]

This was interesting. I may have to try this but adapt it a little bit. I do not normally like thrillers but if it is a sci-fi based then I have some interest.

[@lostgoth3980]

Hey Alexa! Could you talk about the right time to take a creative break? What are the signs that you need to let your book aside for a while?

[@alicevarela8942]

aaa your voice is so satisfying, keep talking please

[@DevanBaird]

Do you have a blog website as well? For something like this I think I need a visual representation of the info

[@michellowe8627]

When Joe Straczynski invented Babylon 5 he said it hit him in the shower (I think) and he saw the final scene of the final episode. He knew where the story would end plus a lot of the middle parts like characters, setting, the Shadow War etc. Of course he didn’t have four seasons of 22 episodes yet, but it sounds like you and Joe are following a similar technique, what The Tubes called the completion backward principle. Or maybe I missed something.

[@palletcabin-YR_Author]

Discovery writer, good term.

[@Katlyn_Duncan]

Loved this video, Alexa! I'm obsessed with learning others process'. Thrillers are their own beast because you do have a lot of clues to put in there while also hiding them until that ah-ha moment. We have a similar process when it comes to the end of the book. I always start over and read through before finalizing my ending, and inevitably find threads I've dropped and get excited when I can pull them through to the end. BTW I had no idea you were writing ANOTHER thriller on top of the Ivys. Are you looking to go on sub with this one? Is it YA or adult?

[@AlexaDonne]

We should be doing something w/ The Ivies shortly (Fall) and then I have the other one planned as a "what else do you have?" option as I imagine with a big genre pivot, I need to be prepared with a "next book." I'm sure you totally get this, but I think too many authors don't think about "what's the next book?" which is usually a question that comes up with publishers. You can't just be one and done! I'm really liking it so far! It's very moody/noir, which is something I've always wanted to explore (since I love that stuff as a reader).

[@Katlyn_Duncan]

Alexa Donne Ouu that sounds exciting! I always keep a list of ideas ready for my publisher when needed, it makes it much easier when they do ask. I know it used to be “taboo” when authors switch genres, but that’s how I’ve published from the start (digital first gives a little more leeway at leas IMO). I like the shift in recent publishing with authors writing what they want no matter what genre. It makes for an interesting backlist. ☺️

[@dylantd9189]

Lol Coastal Noir... So similar to Big Little Lies? Don't hate it. I love Big little lies.

[@cathyl3526]

Is it okay that I'm excited in advance? :D

[@octosepninetyoneninetysix1601]

Sounds interesting

[@ZombieJohn]

LOVE her vids!

[@geebee1514]

Congrats! Do you have a title yet or something in mind that you're playing around with?

[@sharonefee1426]

Well, the moment you write thrillers, you can't be a pure pantser. I sometimes have a problem to remain on the ending I chose... so... thriller is probably gonna end with disaster.

[@EDDIELANE]

What a cool way to work out a story!! Will be trying this for my dark German Fairytale.

[@coleenblevins8003]

Can you do a my book tour video

[@HERO-un7eb]

do you think you'll ever write a romance?

[@AlexaDonne]

Yes! I have a few adult romance ideas knocking around. Some day :D

[@sjbenson5618]

Hello can you give your writers friend contact information or your agent? I would like to give them a sample of my book so they can see if they like it. Thankyou

[@AlexaDonne]

My agent works for Laura Dail agency, whose submission information is on their website. You'll find their query guidelines and contact information there.

[@sjbenson5618]

@@AlexaDonne Thankyou very much :)

[@authoralysmarchand4737]

I don't really like the idea of "pantster" or "plotter." I think every writer falls on a spectrum, with very rare exception. Just plain having a general direction is having something of a plot, and unless you're anal-retentive to an absurd degree, no matter how much you outline ahead of time, things will still come up that can take a story in a whole different unexplored direction. What I do from book to book changes. In my first fiction piece, the first of a trilogy, I knew where I wanted things to start, the physical location of the main action, and I had two ideas for the end, one where the main hero lives and one where he dies. Then I wrote from the beginning and let the story go where it wanted to go. The second book had some more things that needed to happen, but in certain ways that would eliminate bringing back characters from the first book who seemed to have been left behind. So there was more outlining there, but it still got tossed in favor of what seemed to want to happen. The last book was most outlined since it needed to wrap up a lot without opening new loopholes, had deaths of protagonists, etc., and still ended up being a book where the outline didn't matter so much and was a general guideline. The main character stayed the same in all three books. In this new series of six books, the first two, second two, and last two, each follow a different brother in a family, and there are other characters who follow through the series. I don't want to give away too much of what goes on between, say, the third brother and his love interest in the first four books, but don't want to have that B3 and LI3 be strangers nor have LI3 come out of nowhere nor have them have their romance sparked early. If anything, I'm having to plot ahead for the stories not yet told, to set them up without it being so obvious, and toss in a red herring here and there, if that makes sense. So for the book I'm working on now, book 4, I have a couple lines about what I intend to happen in each chapter and any, and am using those as dots to connect the story, while being open to skipping some, adding some, tossing some out...whatever works for that particular book and that particular day, rather than wrapping myself up in the identity of a "pantster" or "plotter" (I hate those terms) and then sticking in a box out of some misguided sense of team pride.

[@bookwormlife1278]

I am currently writing a horror novel and it does have parts to it that make it sound non-horror because of time travel, war and world travel. it is set in real life places but they are re-imagined. it's about a 14 year old girl (p) she is trying to protect her family and when she travels the world she ends up causing a war and at the end she reveals her secret but then has to face the toughest challenge of her life. I'm not going to reveal no more. there, unfortunately, isn't a release date yet. I will say when there is one.

[@MoniqueCherie88]

Awesome evolution, but I think you're a plantser now :)