symbolic 56: modern suspense thrillers
I've been carpooling these last few weeks, the old-school method of getting to work, and haven't been able to get any writing done on the laptop. Instead I've been catching up on my summer reading. I just finished James Rollins' Ice Hunt, which will never be characterized as anything but pure, bloody fun. He follows an outline similar enough to the one that Matthew Reilly has been employing to loud and explosive success, and, in fact, I'm willing to bet there is actually a codified outline they are both using. It goes a little something like this:
A) Main hero is an outsider in the sense that he is not directly involved in the central conflict of the book, but through either bad timing or innocent coincidence, he is thrust into the action. He is, invariably, military trained in some fashion, though most likely he has done his time and left the fields and alleys of carnage behind. You know, woke up one morning and decided that he had just had enough of killing. That sort of thing. Most importantly, he is the only one the reader can trust because gosh-darn-it he has rescued himself and become pure again.
B) The military has been doing things they shouldn't be. There will be some nefarious military covert operation which has been running beneath our noses for a long time that is horrific in nature, but still justifiable from a completely military viewpoint. Like the Nazi experiments in genetic modifications during WWII. They were, you know, just trying to build better soldiers in order to keep us all safe from the enemy. The Horrific Military Secret will have suffered some inexplicable catastrophe that requires external intervention, usually in the form of a black ops team or two.
C) Our military isn't the only one who knows about the HMS. In fact, as Reilly uses to entertaining effect in Ice Station, it is better if more than one government is sending their own black ops team.
D) The entire world is threatened by the possibility of the release of whatever nefarious agent the HMS is all about. In fact, protecting the HMS by destroying Life As We Know It is within keeping of the "more is better" approach to the modern thriller.
E) One of the side effects of the research of the HMS is the discovery/creation of some evolutionary offshoot which is, by far, the most dangerous creature that ever hunted mankind. This creature is a cross between a shark with frickin' laser beams attached to its head and a Black Company-esque forvalaka. These creatures don't seem to care much about military or national factions and just kill everyone. Which leads to:
F) Unexpected allies. Our hero is forced to band with either/both/neither of the conflicting military factions throughout the book because of the First Rule of Modern Suspense Thrillers: everyone has their own agenda. And the Firt Rule's Corollary: nothing is as it seems. "Good" and "Bad" become useful delineators of character; you are better off served by classifying participants as either "Useful" or "Aggressors." And use a pencil when you're making notes because classifications will swap places at least twice during the course of the adventure.
G) And, naturally, the Second Rule of Modern Suspense Thrillers is always in play: the situation gets worse. Usually exponentially.
God help me, I love these. The more over the top, the better. Reilly, in Temple, locks his hero in an Abrams A-1 Battletank with a nuclear device (on countdown) and pushes the whole thing out of a cargo plane at 30,000 feet. It just doesn't get any better than that.
writing
This is a reasonably comprehensive list of my published work, both virtual and physical.
THE MISFIT LIBRARY
I am Nine of Thirteen, one of the members of the Misfit Library, a writing collective which puts out a quarterly journal of our respective work. We are scattered across the globe and determined to change the face of the planet one story at a time. The link above will take you to Misfit Central where you can acquire copies of the journal as well as read exclusive online material.
SYMBOLIC
I wrote a column for OPi8.com's Transmit blogs: journals of the new dark underground. SYMBOLIC tracked the novel I was working on, referencing the process and the research materials which mad up the backbone of the work. In addition, SYMBOLIC busied itself with ruminations and considerations on the nature of language and communication. And a wee bit of mythology. The first 100 entries of SYMBOLIC can be found here on this site as well as at OPi8.com.
LITERARY REPRESENTATION
I am represented by Scribe Agency as my literary agents. Please contact these gentleman if you have any queries about my work.