test 3

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test 2

She felt a twinge of guilt, but for some reason she couldn't lie. "All of it. And a full dose the previous week. You got any more?" She hiccupped and laughed.

The men looked at each other with something approaching sympathy. One took her hand, and led her out the door, the other shutting it behind her. Down the elevator, out onto the street, and into a black limousine.

Opening structures to get a thriller moving

Opening structures to get a thriller moving.

The no foreplay opening. Jump right into the starting incident. The MC's wife is kidnapped in front of him. He's kidnapped. A zombie attacks him on the way home. The detective is woken and called to the homicide scene. Perhaps the most common opening for beginning writers, but doesn't always satisfy me unless done really well because character development is sometimes left out, leaving only hollow suspense to carry the plot.

The linear opening with foreplay. Starts with character and scene development. Little action at start, minor tension, perhaps not related to major story line. Strangeness or action builds over the first few chapters. Depends on the author's writing skills to hold readers attention until the major action starts. My favorite when done well. Boring when not. Michael Connolly is a master.

The parallel plot. Someone dies horribly, preferably tortured. Could be a strange death. Maybe we see a bunch of terrorists assembling a nuclear bomb. Or a mad scientist gloating. Bad guys could be anonymous. Relationship to main story not explain at first, becomes clear later. After the exciting opening we cut to our hero enjoying breakfast. The phone rings . . . Very common. Cheap but effective. Vince Flynn.

The inside the bad guy's head. Similar to the parallel plot, escape very personal. Start inside the head of the bad guy, typically 1st person, doing whatever bad guys do. Cut to our good guy after the threat is established. Common in crazed serial killer stories. Used and loved by many authors.

The showcase the MC's skills. Our hero breaks up a fight, wins a dramatic court case, steals a painting, climbs a mountain. Not related to the main plot, just shows the MC's skills off with some cheap drama. Then the real story shows up in chapter 2. Also very common.

The little story. Similar to "showcase the MC's skills." Open with a relatively minor incident in the MC's life that set the stage, gets us involved, shows character. Almost like a short story told in a chapter. A con man pulls off a minor con, then is approached by someone to pull off the big con. Or maybe a man embezzles $10,000, then is approached by the mob to do more. Or a guy hacks the campus computer network, is approached by the CIA to do the same elsewhere . .

The inside the head. Our hero muses about his life, problems, or future. Tells a story. Depends on the writing skills to draw you in, make you feel the character. Difficult to do.

The flash back. Show a defining incident in the characters past that will shape the story's future. An incident in Vietnam. The death of a friend when young (maybe with some MC involvement.) The murder of the MC's parents.

The flash ahead. Our MC is shown in a horrible bind, facing death or worse. Cut back to the situation that got him there, work forward to the bind.

The reader knows a trap/bind is coming. A variation on the parallel plot. Start with a bunch of baddies discussing their plan for global destruction or a simple kidnapping. Cut to our good guy, and he's walking right into their way and he doesn't know it! Oh, the tension.