Thriller 101

Developing Better Plots Using a Character-Driven Approach with Daniel David Wallace


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Struggling with how to write a thriller that grabs readers immediately? 

In this interview, writing expert Daniel David Wallace shares game-changing writing tips for crafting plots that keep readers hooked from page one. 

Daniel, creator of the Character First Writing Approach and host of Escape the Plot Forest summit, reveals why traditional plotting advice often fails thriller writers.

And he offers three essential strategies for developing compelling, character-driven narratives. 

Whether you're working on your first manuscript or polishing a novel for traditional publishing, these writing techniques will help you avoid the common pitfalls that cause readers to abandon your story. 

Learn how to create protagonists with immediate momentum, maintain emotional connection through plot twists, and structure midpoints that trap both your characters and your readers in the story.

Learn more about Daniel here...

Daniel David Wallace is the host of Escape the Plot Forest, an annual online conference for writers. He spent four years of a PhD researching new ways to help writers tell a great story.
His stories, reviews, and essays have been published in great magazines like Tampa Review, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Air Schooner, and his writing has won him awards like the Toni Brown scholarship and the Hodges prizes.
Daniel designed a way of teaching plot, the "character-first" approach that aims to return writers to their original love of storytelling (because it teaches you to write according to how your ideal readers will experience your book).
This approach has resonated with so many people: more than 13,000 writers read his newsletter each week.

  1. Literary Agent and Author Jenna Satterthwaite on Making it in the Publishing Industry
  2. First Page Formula: Author and Writing Coach April Davila on What Agents & Readers Want to See in Your Thriller Manuscript Opening
  3. How to Edit Your Own Writing with Author & Editor Chantelle Aimée Osman


Get the list of 125+ Literary Agents who rep Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, and Crime Fiction

Study the Opening Paragraphs of the Top Authors Writing Thrillers Right Now


...more
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