Writing my next book

[ThisLifeSuxx]

Hi MumsNetters. I am still relatively new to this forum so please forgive me if I have posted this thread in the wrong category.

I am a published writer that specialises in crime and psychological thrillers. I have written two books so far that were relatively successful but for book number 3, I would like to reach for the stars.

I need to make it clear from the offset that I am NOT seeking any ideas for storylines or anything of the sort. Please do NOT post any storyline ideas as I could get in serious trouble with my publishers if so. Copyright issues and so on.

What I am in fact looking for are your opinions on what storylines in this particular category that you are fed up of seeing. Which storylines are boring or regurgitated if want for a better turn of phrase, for you?

I am very interested to hear what the people DON'T want so that I know which direction to take with this next book.

TIA!

@JamieFrasersBigSwingingKilt

Love the fact you're a published author. Congrats to you! Can't wait to pick up my next book in your genre and wonder if it's yours!

Re dislikes.

1. When a downtrodden wifey suddenly channels Miss Marple and solves the crime to ensure her horrible, innocent husband is freed after being falsely accused.

1. When women are objectified and/or dehumanised. Especially when they're often referred to as "the girl".

1. When plot twists are gratuitous and are shoe-horned in towards the end.

Hope this helps a bit.

This helps massively and I completely agree with all 3 points made right there. Thank you so much, this is incredibly helpful!

@NoSquirrels

Also women called Kate who have a house in London mysteriously afforded by some niche hobby-job such as weaving lampshades out of yak fur.

Just cackled at this!!

Also chuckled at this

Getting sick of multiple timelines, which seem to have proliferated as a result of the ease with which Word allows us to chop up our draft texts into 'creative' (ie cliched) new ordering.

Also, of course, the 'girl' thing - gone girl with a dragon tattooo on the train, etc.

Ooh this is really interesting. I'm a real bookworm.
I have recently read a number of books in which a incident in the past is referred to many many times and I've been left thinking what on earth was it but when I find out it was nowhere near as dramatic as I'd expected!
I also don't like it when the characters decide to investigate for themselves, particularly when this involves telling a murderer that they know what they've done and then arranging to meet them alone, in the dark and in a deserted place.

The storylines about police officers shagging the murderer and / or their subordinates and / or the pathologist are getting tiresome.

@MatildaTheCat Best of luck. May I ask how you learned to write novels?

Of course you may

I have had extremely vivid and often even lucid dreams from a very young age. 6 to be precise. I always complained about these to my DM who encouraged me to write down everything I remembered from these dreams in a dream diary. When I was about 11, I started to understand that I could control my lucid dreams once I realised that I was dreaming (whilst in the dream).

Since then, I have been writing down everything I recall from my dreams and I use these notes as inspiration for my novels.

Although I can admit to watching a lot of crime/psychological thrillers on Netflix as an adult and drawing inspiration from them also whilst avoiding obvious plagiarism

I like domestic noir and psychological thrillers. Getting tired of when I read the blurb on Amazon or Audible and it says:

"Jane Smith (thought she) had it all - a gorgeous husband, beautiful son and exciting job as a [whatever]. But ... [cue catastrophe]."

Overused trope.
(Not that you can control what Amazon or audible write, I'm sure.)

Perhaps I just have the wrong mindset for psychological thrillers but I'd like to read about characters that behave more as they would in real life. I know there has to be some suspension of disbelief but some plots rely too much on decisions and behaviour that would be very unlikely to happen. I'd also like to see professions portrayed with some accuracy. Finally please check geography and tap into local knowledge when writing about a time or place.
Good luck with your next book.

Another is obvious pregnancy tells. Woman refuses alcoholic drink, therefore is 'secretly' pregnant. Woman feels sick/faint or vomits - therefore is 'secretly' pregnant. It would be marvellous to read about a woman not drinking or having a dicky tummy just because those things sometimes happen!

This is my favourite genre and I have a lot of bugbears! Main ones:

1 - Children who don't seem like children. They are either acting really babyish with unrealistic dialogue or are precocious. Just finished a book with an 11 year old child in it who spoke and behaved like a 7 year old.

2 - Middle class! Why are all the main families in domestic thrillers middle class? They all have such nice lives with lovely partners and 2.5 kids and a 4x4. There is a certain author who always label drops things like the model of car or phone the main character has just to show how well-off they are.

3 - Parents covering for their children (when the child is actually the killer). Overdone.

Really sick of reading about successful women usually drs/lawyers who sudden become dependent on alcohol/drugs, can't function at work /home, can't sleep and think they are going crazy. Then it turns out someone is making them feel crazy.

When the murderer is some random character who's barely been in the book and has no connection to the plot.

I am a little bit fed up with the story of something bad happened in the past and now twenty years later middle-class Kate is in for a shock.

Multiple timelines are just hard to follow for me.

My main pet peeve is when the reviews from other authors say something like "I couldn't believe the twist!" It just makes me read and wait for this twist. Which is therefore not as surprising as it would have been.

I agree with multiple timelines. Also when the story switched between being told by loads of people.

Too many points of view drive me mad.

[quote ThisLifeSuxx]@LottyD32 Gosh, the amount of books I've read with this description of the lead character is ridiculous. Totally agree. It's boring and overdone.

I don't like when a story just ends/cuts off. I like a proper ending where you know what happens to the ther characters/where they end up. Although I'm not sure that's true for me for this genre, actually.

Okay so, you don't like cliffhangers basically. That's fair enough. Although in this particular genre, I have to say that cliffhangers are quite rife.

Would you be open to cliffhangers if they had a sequel? As in, book one/part one, book two/part two, and so on? Thank you for your input [/quote]
👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 to sequels.

What it is that I don't like is when you get really invested in a character and then you feel sad when it ends and want to know more about what happened to them or next.

Or I like everything to be wrapped up properly by the end.

Also the books in a series that assume you have read / can remember all the detail in the previous books and rely on the backstory for critical plot points

But @HamsterTrumpet I hate it in sequels when the book is full of summaries of what happened in the last book.

I came on to write what autienotnaughty wrote:
"When the murderer is some random character who's barely been in the book and has no connection to the plot.

I have a personal dislike of books in which children are abducted, tortured, or murdered.

I do like books with a clear and accurate sense of place and time which extends to character's names. Please don't use all your can't-use-IRL fantasy children's names for characters in your books!

Oh and please, no more 'horny-handed sons of the soil', ie dishy gardeners, with an obviously middle-class or upper-class name (Torquil, Tarquin) who - it later transpires - gave up a lucrative professional job, to focus on his passion for plants, and turns out to be a real soft touch (usually after a terrible - but blatantly obvious - misunderstanding between him and the vulnerable heroine). I've read one too many books with such a character.

Very much just a me thing, but I normally put a book down straightaway if there are descriptions of messy eaters - and that includes kids. It’s nauseating.

@Soul11Soul

But *@HamsterTrumpet* I hate it in sequels when the book is full of summaries of what happened in the last book.

Maybe the answer to that is a quick summary as a preface?

The word ‘ cacophony’. It is in everything I’ve read lately. Also when it is used more than once in the book. Please stop

I don't like waffle, even more so if it's irrelevant. I just tried to read a Patricia Cornwell Scarpetta book and the waffle about her top quality ingredients in her ragu, which is in every bloody book it seems, bores me silly.

I don't like ambiguous endings. After investing in 300 plus pages I would like to understand what happened!!

Hate over graphic descriptions of abuse, 99% directed at women it seems.

Also, don't put "with a twist you won't see coming" on your book cover, hate this and usually means that I'll have worked it out by chapter 3

I don't like the first person narrative either, personal preference

Good luck with your next book