{"id":3154,"date":"2019-05-17T06:39:11","date_gmt":"2019-05-17T13:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=3154"},"modified":"2019-05-17T08:35:51","modified_gmt":"2019-05-17T15:35:51","slug":"writing-an-authentic-thriller-carin-michaels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/writing-an-authentic-thriller-carin-michaels\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing an Authentic Thriller: Carin Michaels"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Carin Michaels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The writer of this article, Carin Michaels, is a former federal investigator working on her first thriller.\u00a0 She is also a freelance journalist who has written for Gannett Newspapers, MLive Media Group, Third Street Publications and Crazy Wisdom Journal.\u00a0 She is also a playwright and has had productions in New York, Chicago and L.A.\u00a0 She reached out to me and I was intrigued because of her experience, and I think you will be as well, whether you are writing your own thriller or not.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This article was inspired after reading a bad crime thriller. As someone who was\u00a0a\u00a0federal investigator, I became incensed when I found the author\u2019s story unbelievable. I have been writing for over 30 years, even though I\u2019m\u00a0just now\u00a0working on my first crime thriller. I\u2019ve earned paychecks, been reviewed and have developed a craft. Stephen King wrote in his book,\u00a0On Writing,<\/em>\u00a0that \u201cEvery book you pick up has its own lesson or lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones.\u201d Given my unique experiences, I would like to discuss some minimum standards this bad book missed. This critique is an attempt to hone our skills as writers and readers. When creating intriguing crime stories, the basics for\u00a0a\u00a0good story are research, character, plot points and passion.<\/p>\n

Good story always seems to circle back to the basics. Similarly, \u00a0a log-line\u00a0is\u00a0usually one simple sentence providing\u00a0a plot breakdown with a hook\u00a0to\u00a0grab the audience\u2019s interest.\u00a0 But it requires craft. Folks always ask me, with intrigue, what I did as a federal investigator. I give them my\u00a0standard\u00a0line: \u201cI investigated people\u2026\u201d then offer an ellipsis pause. They want gory details, but it\u2019s unprofessional to address your casework publicly. As I see refrain in their expectations, I continue: \u201c\u2026 and I went undercover; I worked with murderers; I had\u00a0PTSD; I\u2019ve even seen things not fit for human consumption.\u201d My response has a hook that offers many stories. Hence, my experience can identify when writers are off their game, usually because their research is flawed.<\/p>\n

Even with my first-hand experience, I read profusely – about everything. There is not enough time in the day for me to read. Since I no longer have \u201cboots on the ground,\u201d meaning I\u2019m not on the street, I read to stay fresh. I admire Michael Connelly, for example. He started as a beat crime reporter on the streets of Los Angeles, and to this day, he meets with his cop and lawyer friends over coffee and donuts. If you don\u2019t have a lifeline to the streets, spin a story about a topic you know well. Continual research helps you find your cutting edge voice.<\/p>\n

A good rule of thumb is to avoid writing about topics you think you know, because someone else will always know more. I\u2019ve learned that I must have a gut feel for my topic. For instance, this bad book had a character who was\u00a0a psychiatric expert and\u00a0a victim of recent trauma. As one who suffered from PSTD, I found the author\u2019s words hollow. I want to invest in authors who teach me something I don\u2019t already know, or they help me master a topic emotionally as well as intellectually. But to position a character as an expert when the author could not speak to the truths on the topic was infuriating. We all crave the intimacy of authorial authenticity.<\/p>\n

“Authorial authenticity” are buzz words today.\u00a0 The phrase means speaking to innate truths about a subject matter that you know intimately well.\u00a0 This is a serious topic of discussion for writers today since a Twitter feed can shut down a writer\u2019s publication within 24 hours if the crowd deems the author to be inauthentic. As I begin my first crime novel, I do not worry about such a backlash since I feel very safe\u00a0 in this genre, but I encourage other writers to research ad nauseam in order to have fresh, original and authentic material to spin.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Once we have developed material, we use our writing techniques -ways that make our words more engaging and exciting as well as readable, to shape criteria that defines crime genre. A key element is the character of the antagonist. When faced with a true criminal who is pure evil, it\u2019s a challenge to recreate, because unwanted feelings swirl inside us. Thomas Harris did his research when he created Dr. Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs,\u00a0<\/em>and it paid off. Harris also educated us on the perversity of serial killers. Robert McKee\u2019s infamous book,\u00a0Story,<\/em>\u00a0has a chapter called \u201cThe Principle of Antagonism.\u201d He argues that your story is only as good as its antagonist, so for crime writing, if a writer intimately understands a sociopath, or some form of this perversity, then they\u2019re on their way to writing good crime fiction. This requires research – whether you\u2019re\u00a0a true crime writer or a fiction thriller writer, criminals are exact, and if they\u2019re not, they\u2019re caught. End of story.<\/p>\n

My first job out of college was as a psychiatric caseworker in an emergency room, and I learned profiling. I had to memorize all the categories in DSM-III, which is now the DSM-V, also known as Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. <\/em>This\u00a0<\/em>reference book\u00a0is\u00a0consulted by psychiatrists, psychologists, physicians and social workers in clinical practice. This manual is a great reference tool for character development. My interest in diagnoses led me to read more and more. One theory about the development of a sociopath is that it results from his or her inability to express the feminine side of their spirit, which\u00a0when subjugated,\u00a0is\u00a0such that its expression erupts in the form of its learned negativity. For example, if a boy is punished and ridiculed for being feminine, he can grow up to have profound hatred and desire for this feminine side, so he intimately explores these feelings as a murderer\u00a0through necrophilia.<\/p>\n

Most serial killers have sex with their dead victims. The innocence of the child somehow morphs into sadomasochism. Thomas Harris\u2019 incarnation of Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs<\/em>\u00a0is discussed by Dr. Lecter as his patient\u2019s perverse expression of trying to reconfigure his feminine self by tailoring an outfit using his female victim\u2019s skin. Harris is a master craftsman: Is Dr. Lecter the antagonist, or actually the foil, to Clarice? Is Buffalo Bill the actual antagonist? We should answer these questions to better understand our antagonistic and thematic plot points when we create crime drama.<\/p>\n

There is a difference between plot points and story.\u00a0 Story is how your protagonist navigates and is changed by plot points, as explained in a webinar by editor Tiffany Yates Martin called \u201cThe 10 Biggest Mistakes Writers Make,\u201d but, for many, a rule guide inhibits creativity. McKee says \u201cStory is about principles, not rules.\u201d I see principles as inherent rules that can guide your creative intuition when writing a story. Hopefully, your research has developed plot points that are believable and relevant to inform your character arc. For instance, if my character has PTSD, she must struggle with interpersonal conflicts from trauma. I read a frightening statistic: forty veterans commit suicide every day. As a guardian of other\u2019s stories, we must advocate for authorial authenticity so our readers can learn about the struggle of PTSD.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Good story is a mark of a good writer, but plot points help create good characters. And good characters create good story. It\u2019s a vortex that swirls when we\u2019re spinning story, which help us balance tempo, intrigue, and character development. Circling back to\u00a0Silence of the Lambs<\/em>, Clarice Starling is introduced as a cadet, who is mentored by Jack Crawford and Dr. Lecter, and her experiences garnered from plot points morph her into a skilled investigator. However, she continues to struggle with her inexperience until the very end. Clarice maneuvers through her plot points, viscerally, vulnerably, emotionally victimized, but victorious. During her initial training, we learn she is an excellent marksman, which foreshadows her defining moment during the climax when she kills her antagonist, Buffalo Bill, who stampedes her in a dark room. I trust Thomas Harris as an author to lead me through this story; the author of the bad book presented a character who was asymptomatic of PTSD without a character arc. I don\u2019t think I will read another one of her books.<\/p>\n

Writing is not easy; it is re-writing, meaning it requires revisions to hone your craft. It\u2019s a discipline. I have always been a wordsmith, but it has involved multiple careers with a contentious and tumultuous personal life. I survived both, and it\u2019s important that as a writer you tap into that survivor, because those experiences, the burliness of survival, is what a crime writer must document on the page. We need to become method actors; a craft developed by a Russian named Stanislavsky, who taught thespians to become one with their characters. I\u2019m not saying go out and get shot, but I am encouraging writers to empathetically embody their character\u2019s actions as believable and be changed by their plot points so your audience can live vicariously through your character\u2019s struggle.<\/p>\n

Writers cannot do research on crimes if they don\u2019t have a passion for them, and this includes the mundane repetitive stuff. I wrote mounds of case materials, boring details, and if you don\u2019t like the good, bad and mostly repetitive ugly of people, my investigative job wasn\u2019t for you. This passion for the details helped me crack a case. I was able to determine that a subject, or \u201cperp,\u201d a term used colloquially in private conversation, was lying, because after combing through hours of testimony and boring details, this guy contradicted himself about one incident, when he was trying to impress me with his handle on the facts. This case was incredibly tedious because the perp had an iron clad alibi that disproved a source\u2019s testimony. I sensed something was off. It was probably because he thought he was smarter than me. Maybe he was, but I\u2019m an excellent conversationalist. He had an air about him, as if he was skating to the finish line. When we sat down to talk, a conversation, not an interrogation, I sought to clarify my confusion with repeated questioning, tangential questions, and then circling back to various details, he proved my initial intuition correct.\u00a0 He was guilty.\u00a0 Each character has a tragic flaw, and he got carried away with his narcissism. He described his events of that illicit evening slightly different than the first; the second time he used a bit more swagger, and the third he referenced a detail only the perp and an obsessed investigator would remember. Tedious research is a requirement for a life of crime. I assure you successful perpetrators do the same. Most importantly, your passion must translate easily into words and be as exacting as your antagonist. This passion intuitively creates a journey that teaches us something memorable.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to be a criminal to write in this genre, or know a criminal, or have been exposed to a criminal, but you must be obsessed\u00a0with\u00a0criminals, either by predilection or happenstance. There is a madness to the method, and if you have a passion for crime writing then you\u2019ll find the devil is in the details.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The writer of this article, Carin Michaels, is a former federal investigator working on her first thriller.\u00a0 She is also a freelance journalist who has written for Gannett Newspapers, MLive Media Group, Third Street Publications and Crazy Wisdom Journal.\u00a0 She is also a playwright and has had productions in New York, Chicago and L.A.\u00a0 She … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[129,130,13,12],"class_list":["post-3154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays","tag-carin-michaels","tag-silence-of-the-lambs","tag-suspensethriller","tag-true-crime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3154"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3159,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3154\/revisions\/3159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}