Second to the last tip from James Frey's book is Menace. It means that you'll have a villain who'll make threats and carry out these threats over the course of the story. It's very important that your villain deliver on their threats on time.
You need a villain, and you need to show that this villain is capable of harming people, dismembering people, and killing people. Because when you put your main characters or other sympathetic characters in danger, your audience needs to believe that that danger is real. The only way to do that is to show early on and throughout the story that the villain is capable of doing horrible things.
One of the oldest thriller books that I have read is Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier.
Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier
'Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.'
The intriguing widow Max de Winter is met and married by our unnamed narrator after a quick relationship in Monte Carlo in the book that opens with one of the most famous first lines in literary history. The second Mrs. de Winter, who is starting her new job as mistress at the gothic Manderley mansion in Cornwall, encounters resistance from the staff because she is feeling increasingly plagued by her predecessor. The walls start to shut in as Max withdraws and loses patience with her juvenile antics as she learns Rebecca may be buried, but she is still very much alive. With this, her breakthrough book, Du Maurier stated that she was aiming for "slow-burning menace." It maintains its simmering, dark mood from open to close and continues to be the pinnacle of a depiction of a young woman driven insane by love and terror.
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To have menace in your novel, always answer a question with a question. And just then, maybe just then, you can find your own "Eureka!"
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The Art of Thrillers: Behind the Shadows
Mystery / ThrillerThe Art of Thrillers: Behind the Shadows Understanding the art of heart-pumping twists, suspense, and intrigue Everything you need to know about thriller ways to create a page-turning book that will have readers turning the pages. Join us as we reve...
