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!

Love this genre....I hope I've read your books! How amazing you have had books published.

Some of the things I dislike about this genre have already been mentioned so sorry to repeat anything...

Parents covering up for children/teens who have committed murder. I get that we would all want to protect our children but I feel like it's been done and is almost a disappointment at the end.

Why do so many of the detectives/police officers have to be alcoholic or really unstable?! I know it adds to the story but sometimes I just want the investigator to be more straightforward.

Characters who decide to become miss marple and go off investigating (and solving!) the case themselves. It's always too far fetched- I like the investigation to be a bit more realistic.

On a side note....I love a crime series. I've only just got into a crime series by Angela Marsons and I love finding out more about all the characters in each book. Each 'case' is solved in each book but the background stories continue....I'm hooked!

I hate when one character has something big to tell someone else, but doesn't for some spurious reason, like getting interrupted by the phone ringing. Happens maddeningly often!

@TheUsualShitshow

I hate when one character has something big to tell someone else, but doesn't for some spurious reason, like getting interrupted by the phone ringing. Happens maddeningly often!

Oh yes. They never ever come straight out with it - they always have to faff until the interruption!

@TheUsualShitshow

I hate when one character has something big to tell someone else, but doesn't for some spurious reason, like getting interrupted by the phone ringing. Happens maddeningly often!

Definitely this. Or finds an obvious clue and puts it to one side thinking that they'll tell someone later but end up being the next victim.

I also don't like the fashion for writing in present tense. Also the the prologue from the point of view of the murderer, usually in italics.

I do actually like a bit humour in there somewhere which can be a bit difficult in books like this but someone like Belinda Bauer does this really well.

@TheUsualShitshow

I hate when one character has something big to tell someone else, but doesn't for some spurious reason, like getting interrupted by the phone ringing. Happens maddeningly often!

Agree!

‘She felt her heart beat even faster as he said the words ‘I have to tell you something’ in a halting voice. ‘I’ve been putting it off for days’ he explained ‘but I can’t put it off a second longer’. He was interrupted by his phone ringing ‘I need to get this’ he said answering it.’

And then the wife waits while he takes the call and rushes off to work for an ‘emergency’. Are you kidding! If that was my husband I would bot be waiting while he chatted on the phone at that moment in time!

When the murderer is someone who has had a first person perspective and has seemed totally normal but turns out they are crazy.

I recently finished a crime novel where the detectives were trying to solve multiple cases and I just couldn't keep track of them all!

Personally I don't like gory descriptions of the murders. Less is more in my book.
I'm not sure about stories written in the present tense either.
I roll my eyes when yet another detective protagonist's marriage breaks down as a result of them spending too much time at work. I'd be more interested in how they might manage a healthy reciprocal relationship in these circumstances.
My real bugbear is too much pontificating over the nature of evil/justice etc.

Present tense. I loathe things written in the present tense.

Graphic violence is offputting. Also cruelty to animals.

Hate anything involving serial killers, especially ones who are engaged in some sort of taunting the police.

I don’t like it when the heroine ends up killing the murderer in a dramatic showdown at the end - read a few of these recently.
Also can’t read anything involving the death of children or babies (including unborn).
And yes - the name Kate is so overused!

No more unreliable narrators who drink too much/ imagine things

No more missing teenage girls.

The husband with a secret has been done to death.

Hate repetition of minor details in unrelated books (ie not a series).

Hate endings which spoil the book.

Would love an ending which is not along the lines of cop meets perpetrator, cop's life is in danger, cop wins over. I doubt this happens in real life.

Finally, there's a series I otherwise love which uses the exact same twist at thr end of each book (3 so far). It relates to the backstory of the protagonist, so not entirely necessary anyway. In book 1 was unexpected but good, repeated in book 2 jarred but I could accept, so long as it was resolved in book 3. Nope. Book 3 just had the same twist. It could have been worked really well into the overarching plot by now and it would have been superb, but now it's just silly.

Have you seen the Netflix thing, the Girl over the street from the woman over the road in the window, or whatever it's called? It's very funny, very well-observed and you can literally sit and tick off the overdone cliches and plot twists. It'll save you a lot of time!

I don't mind present tense but I can't bear second person. The conceit is usually that they're addressing someone dead but it jars constantly.

I put the TV on to watch EastEnders. You always loved EastEnders ...

No! No! I hate bloody EastEnders! Shut up!

Also when every character uses the same word! For example most people would say something like ‘he was up to no good’ but when the police are going door to do everyone says the suspect looked ‘nefarious’, the police say he had ‘nefarious intent’, the reporter (there’s always a reporter) uses the same word, the suspect (when they’re caught) uses the same word. It makes me think the writer has word of the day toilet paper but no thesaurus!

@MWNA

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.)

In traditional publishing, the publisher decides what the blurb says on Amazon or audible.

Any other crime writers on here who are thinking "tough crowd"?!

@HollowTalk

Any other crime writers on here who are thinking "tough crowd"?!

Not at all, it's 1am and my mind is racing with ideas. Thank you all so much! So brutally honest! It's so refreshing to see

@HollowTalk

Any other crime writers on here who are thinking "tough crowd"?!

Don’t worry, it’s so easy to pick apart anything if you’re asked to, I could do it with even my favourite books, we still read them though, and often enjoy them overall. Also, what one person hates ten will love! There’s so many books and films I read the synopsis for and I think who the fucking hell would read/watch that! But people do!

I hate when there’s a ‘huge secret’ that’s just hinted at through the book as if it’s something really big and it’s always that they left their friend behind on the beach when they were 9 and that’s why the friend got kidnapped. Or they were molested. Basically it’s always something quite cheap for a ‘twist’ that basically seems like to doesn’t add anything so it feels really lazy.

Also (I know this is part of the genre) there are rarely any funny or light bits. Obviously I know a crime thriller can’t have Chander Bing one liners every other page but I read all sorts of other genres that will have a dry comment or witty observation that makes me smile. I see it often in detective novels but never in crime.

Last thing is that often a feel like crime genre, especially thrillers, kind of ‘phones in’ on characterisation. The characters rarely stay with me and I feel like they’re often shallow/not well written or thought out. I’ll often find myself saying to my friend ‘that book we both read. With a girl called Sam or Millie. And she… kills her sister? No wait her sister was a murderer. Remember, it was the one where they kept describing parquet flooring.’

@HollowTalk

Any other crime writers on here who are thinking "tough crowd"?!

😂

Only saw this after I had written my comment! To be fair it’s because I read so much of it that I get so annoyed. If someone asked me to criticise high fantasy I literally couldn’t because I read so little of it, but I’m borrowing or buying crime novels often!

What I mean is if you read a genre widely and often you’ll come across a lot of duds/annoying layers. Whereas if you only pick up a genre after seeing loads of amazing reviews you’re probably only reading the very best the genre has to offer, rather than a mix of the best and the worst.

I hate it when the detective (who always solves the case) never sleeps, fortified by coffee and alcohol, driving around and working. Let your hero have some sleep!
Some storylines have been done to death e.g. people trafficking.
Weather is always too hot or thick snow, it can be ordinary and not detract from the story.
So many of this genre come to a similar denouement. Hero takes a stupid risk, perpetrator gets violent, hero gets saved by some near miracle and perp is caught, escapes or dies.
I love a strongly drawn hero with an interesting background and colleagues that are well described and relatable.
Some writers blow me away with their clever plotting, others are simply tedious.

I hate unreliable first person narrators. It's fine if they are telling the story to someone but I find it infuriating when you are seemingly supposed to have an open view on their inner thoughts and they keeping a major plot point from you.

I hate when there’s a ‘huge secret’ that’s just hinted at through the book as if it’s something really big and it’s always that they left their friend behind on the beach when they were 9 and that’s why the friend got kidnapped. Or they were molested. Basically it’s always something quite cheap for a ‘twist’ that basically seems like to doesn’t add anything so it feels really lazy

I HATE that.

End of first chapter: 'She could never let anyone know what had happened to her'. Cuts to next chapter without saying what the secret is.

End of chapter 2: 'Nobody could ever find out what had happened to her'. Cuts to chapter 3.

End of chapter 3: 'What would he do if ever found out what had happened to her'. Cuts to chapter 4.

Etc. Etc til the end of the book 🙄 It's so irritating. Just tell us the damned secret.