Must Know Thriller Beats

hello everyone Alexa done here and today I am going to be talking about must know thriller beats now this won't be exhaustive all inclusive and kind of the order might not necessarily work for every single story or some of the specificity might not work for every single story but generally I'm going to go over kind of expected beats that seasoned Thurlow readers are going to expect from your work and you can hopefully use this as a guideline or framework to make sure that you're hitting those expected beats because what leads to a satisfying reading experience for well any book but specifically thrillers is hitting beats in both expected and unexpected ways because ultimately it's all down to the emotional reading experience I've done something similar for romance arcs because again romance readers expect you to hit specific beats so this one is all about thrillers mystery suspense etc I'm going to be following a pretty standard story structure and beat structure so again you might have to modify this slightly depending on what you are working on but think of it as a general primer so the first beat you're going to have to hit it's all about your setup it's incredibly important at the beginning of a thriller slash mystery to establish your status quo this is going to be a few scenes and/or chapters so it's really a couple of beats rolled into one main one that is essentially you're establishing shot you need to ground the reader in what the world is like for your main character also sometimes your victim and your murderer it depends on whether they are going to be present at the beginning though the thing about a good thriller is that you want to have threads that go through the whole book and no one likes an ending to a thriller where you can't possibly piece it together yourself / be the whodunit comes out of nowhere the person who is the antagonist comes out of nowhere so usually that antagonist or hint of it or characters who are involved in whatever your conclude are definitely going to show up in your setup and should be part of the status quo so you want to pick something that's going to well illustrate the tone of your world kind of what's normal for that main character while also establishing story basics like who they are what they want and what might be standing in their way and what they might stand to lose from that thing you're going to do the establishment so that when you get to the inciting incident what you're I'm talking about you're really building on an establishing stakes I do have an entire video on plotting a thriller backwards which I will link to down below where you can kind of hear how I approach these essential ingredients of a thriller and work through kind of building up and planning these beats so the next essential beat is the disruption of the status quo sometimes this is the inciting incident ie a murder but it can also be a non murder inciting incident it can just be a thing that triggers change that can lead up to whatever the murder or kick off of your thriller / suspense plot is what you're going to talk about in a minute but it's basically after the status quo it's that first real moment of change so the next beat is the beat of discovery building off of that disruption this is where you can do the murder discovering that someone's been murdered it could also just be the discovery or uncovering of something going on you're building off of that initial disruption point beat to kind of you're building tension and suspense essentially for your main character because next you are going to layer on the hint of danger this is very important you have to build the suspense before you get to the investigation decision point which we're going to talk about but essentially this is where you either implicate your main character and whatever is going on so it creates stakes of like oh I look guilty or you build on the deep personal connection that your main character has to whatever is going on that is more the kind of sense of obligation or justise moment or if you have a character who is literally a detective rather than kind of a layman throwing themselves into an investigation this is the point where you're going to be layering in personal stakes for that character why there's like a hint of danger or conflict for that character specifically just throw themselves into whatever this investigation is now if you are doing the kind of thriller where your main character is really in the heat of it this is your spot where they're going to have their first brush with authority whoever the authority is a cop f.b.eye school administrator whatever really fits for you you need to have that kind of brush of danger you're building on the hint of danger this needs the moment where the character really knows that they either have to investigate to save themselves or they have to investigate to save someone else or basically it's the is real moment because the next essential beat is the decision to investigate beat which is essentially your break into to your second act is going to be where the real kind of gumshoe stuff happens where you are going to start layering beat after beat after beat build up to twists and red herrings etc but you need an actual decision point where the characters like I am going to do this thing and what I want to warn you about I have been guilty of this and I've seen this in other people's work as well is having more than one decision to investigate moment or scene you need one definitive one and this is where these beats get kind of messy it can come earlier you're like oh I'm so confused none of this is cut and drive but these are beats that a reader expects so if you do one of those earlier inciting incidents by the way we're like the murder or thing happens very early your decision to investigate might come earlier as well but your layering in the hints of danger and the building on that the kind of you know cop moment it can also come slightly after a character has decided to investigate but there's always going to be a break in - - moment even if they're already investigating something where there's a further decision point you need a definitive decision point because the break-in - - moment is deciding to go on the journey in a thriller the journey is throwing yourself headlong into the danger of whatever the main thrust of the plot is so you should be escalating and act1 so even if they've already started an investigation because I have read thrillers that do that that break into to moment is when essentially gets real and the character makes a I cannot turn back decision which goes hand in hand with the next essential beat again be some kind of scooch around but more or less this is going to fall and that break into two point which is introduction of the plot slash sidekick slash romance you're always going to have some kind of character who is a foil to your main character both a foil and to help it's that person who helps drive the plot forward who is I mean I said it they're the sidekick sometimes literally in detective fiction it is their partner in many cases this is someone who's tied to the victim and is invested is like let me help you or it can also be a literal love interest it could be a spouse or partner or best friend who basically joins the investigation it's really hard to do a pure thriller suspense book where the main character literally has no help no one to bounce stuff off of as they're doing their investigation that's who this character is because it helps you as the author to have that kind of character foil to push the story forward and certain key points and it also feeds into a beat we're also gonna talk about from act three that is a very popular one in thriller slash suspense fiction that you might want to use but you're gonna have to beat where essentially the person is like I can help so either before or after this again some of these beats can kind of scooch around but you need to hit them in approximately the right places so the next one is the first point of investigation this is always going to be the easiest and most organic place for your character to start so you have to figure out what the easiest most organic place for your character to start is usually this is another character who is it's almost heavy-handed the way that they come up in Act one and it's that the character goes will die I'm going to talk to you so and so so it's the most obvious point of start and whoever that character is and whatever that scene and moment is they need to offer information that is going to lead the character in their next most obvious direction but very commonly this character is going to hold something back you're gonna come back to that character later and or whatever they offer is going to seem very promising at first and definitely put the investigator on their main path but most often is going to be a red herring because as you know the most obvious early explanations or points of investigation are usually not the meatiest ones but also sometimes that first person you talk to does have that essential piece of information you can go back to them it's up to you kind of what you want to do because every thriller is different but the idea of the beat is it's the first person or place that the character goes to to talk to you that starts to kick start the investigation and deepen the plot so next is the hardest part to do the muddled middle act - as I mention is where there is going to be a bunch of investigation so what are your next beats well it's this second third fourth fifth bits of investigation you need them to feel organic one thing should lead to another but not in a straight line this is why it's hard because in thrillers good thrillers you are actually going to be bouncing multiple streams of inquiry at the same time you don't want it to be too linear and thus obvious what is actually going on one investigation points so it could be talking to a person it could be sneaking in somewhere it could be hacking something there are all sorts of different options overhearing something is going to spark something for the character organically always be careful of the heavy hand of the author being like well I know I need to get them to here but don't have them jump to ridiculous conclusions that wouldn't be kind of normal for a person to jump to it be very very careful of that I've definitely seen ones bear like why was their first thought the most extreme thing be thoughtful so it's organic of like well duh point eight leads them to point B but sometimes point a leads them to point D and it's actually like point B like a independent point B like maybe they get to point B without point a and point B leads to C which then maybe leads to G your weaving multiple streams together and this is where your foil character your B plot character can really come in handy because this is the fresh character perspective especially if they are proper foil so they're you know from the other side you know the victim sibling or loved one that you can't write quite trust or it's a cop or what have you that they're gonna throw in independent threads of investigation that you can weave all together also in this section you have to remember the status quo of your character life should still be kind of bumping along and you're doing this delicate dance of investigation and the status quo in the world of your book and things that can be happening both external things that throw new wrenches into the works and organic things were like the characters going from point A to B to C your point A to D to G where you basically don't want anything to seem too easy but you also want it to feel like the character has agency that things that they are doing are leading to new things and discovering new information in this section you're going to be weaving in your red herring so this is things that seem very very promising little rabbit holes that you can send your character and their sidekick down that could be the solution but ultimately aren't going to be but at the same time you should have hints to the actual solution kind of floating in there it's enough so that it's foreshadowed but not so heavy-handed that it's super obvious and you're going to blow your ending honestly the second act of a thriller is a delicate dance and these beats are less specific because the beats are literally just like right the thing honestly most of the specific beats I'm covering are an act 1 or X 3 because act 2 is the hardest and it's going to differ greatly depending on the type of thriller or suspense book you are writing so another micro beat that people expect in this you're going to have certain investigation threads dead-end which forces the character into kind of a dark moment this is basically a reversal what you have in any story it's a reversal of kind of a high and a low and this is just to create tension and conflict for the reader that kind of oh no what's next feeling until you push into the next section so in this second act as you're doing all of this brilliant investigation work but before the midpoint turn if you were doing a thread with a cop or an authority figure character this we're gonna have these second interaction it's gonna happen midway into Act two but before you're building to a big twist in the middle it's essentially a second hint of danger of external force so that the character continues to feel a little bit cornered you can also of course use this interaction to feed some new information to your character and give them kind of new threads of investigation but it's also to ratchet up that tension if it's the kind of thing where the cop is suspicious etc which brings me to the midpoint turn this is a big moment in every book but in a thriller it's expected this is your first major twist you're always going to have kind of a major minor twist at that break into two it's kind of that moment that thing that the character discovers that thrust them seriously point past the point of no return into the investigation the midpoint turn is going to be when gets real you don't save your best reveal for this point but it is possibly the darkest secret this should be the most surprising thing particularly about whatever's going on a victim someone in the orbit of the main character because in a thriller this is the point from which people should be speed through reading through the rest of your book there's also something in port we're gonna talk about it a 70% mark but the 50% mark is just as important in a good thriller because you can get away with a lot of setup and slower build up up to this point but when you get to 50 if you don't have a really juicy twist in the middle thriller readers are gonna throw your book at the wall this could be a secret or a piece of information that comes out that completely invalidates an earlier investigation thread it could be a secret that comes out that cast the victim and a completely new light it could be revealing a huge secret for one of the suspects which could go hand-in-hand in fact with invalidating an investigation Fred whatever it is that you do here should not necessarily be the solution because then you're blowing your ending too soon it should contribute to the solution though whatever big midpoint turn thing is should have some impact on your main twist on the end it should be that moment that changes the scope of the book essentially have I given you a tall enough order but like this is the moment so whatever big things you have planned for the book you're gonna save one of them for this big midpoint turn and you're gonna save the other one for your twist you should always have a pretty good twist in mind so that big twist in the middle should lead to a flurry of Investigation and this is how you tumble downhill out of your second act does when you're going to have the character slash there foil-like talk to several people in quick succession or do several things in quick succession because they're like totally fueled by this crazy reveal this is also generally a point where you expect the main character to be really lost in the investigation they start to lose sight of themselves or sight of other people this is also a new layer in real conflict with family and friends and or that sidekick slash foil character for a reason that psychic character expresses doubt or worry for the main character or even starts to act a little bit funny if you're going to go for a secret reveal with your sidekick which is that future beats but either way you definitely have to start generating real conflict between your investigator character your main character with whoever they are and the people around them because you're gonna have to get to a point where they have their dark night of the soul in this section is usually a very good place to have that next encounter with your cop or authority figure who really tightens the screws if you have them feel a little bit trapped in act 2 this is actually the moment as you're barreling toward act 3 when you're really gonna make it you are basically intensifying everything about the books so that it's like a car crash that everyone's barreling toward that is going to become impossible to stop you might also want to couple kind of that tightening of the screws with that sidekick character abandoning the main character you're basically setting them up to be alone to be obsessed potentially be unreliable and put them in a vulnerable position for the next series of beats so this is essentially your break into three the thing that happens to propel you into the final act of the book and a thriller this is usually going to beat your next big twist or a big twist that leads to poor choices it's either a twist that puts them on the path to the killer whether they know it or not and as I mentioned that decision point where they're going to lose other people's support so that they are barreling forward by themselves into danger and the thriller reader expects this and knows what's happening don't worry if it feels really obvious we live for this this could for example be a point where it seems like everything is solved it seems like they've caught the person who did it but it turns out that they were wrong that their obsession and the drive of this investigation led to the wrong conclusion the real killer is still out there so you're still going to work up to the climax it could also be several threads coming together and the main character has an aha moment and as I mentioned it puts the one the real path to the real person who did it the real antagonist whether the main character knows it or not usually they don't quite know how dangerous it is and this is also your opportunity for final red herrings because sometimes the direction that this twist is gonna push them in into act 3 it does push them toward both the real person but also toward your final red herring it depends on the structure of your mystery but that's always a fun one where the reader is still second guessing it right up to the last bit where it's like okay so I've narrowed it down it's a or B because they've been pushed in this direction then you can continue to play with that suspense until the big moment so the next Beach that is within this Beach is literally the main care chooses the path toward the killer so it's going to a specific place its ruling out one thing and talking to someone else it's taking that definitive step towards danger so like an actual moment where the character decides to do the stupidest thing they could possibly do but the thing that the reader wants to push them toward that big confrontation so you're taking your character to where they need to be for the Big Finish there's a moment of calm I mean it's calm for the character usually not for the reader we know what's coming but it's kind of a brief moment to breathe as you set up your next big twist so this is where you're describing a place or an interaction the character has the wrong impression and like the readers going they're like oh my god they're focusing on this thing but like you know it's the wrong thing it's it this is all about moments of tension and emotion that you need to have in the story to satisfy the reader so this is a big one so I mentioned the fallout with the sidekick beat you have a lot of choices for where you want to put this and what you want to do is that it's gonna be either at the end of Act two but you can also do it in act 3 and it depends on what you're doing with them so it can be after this third act climax set up where they have a big fight falling out so that you can get that sidekick slash foil character out of the way so that the main character is utterly alone for the very final part of the story another option here in order to do that this is a popular beat and it's totally up to you whether to do it it's clue it's not not in every single thriller or suspense story but it is a popular beat for a reason and that is the moment the main character finds out a secret and or loses trust in their faithful sidekick they find out something earth-shattering about them most often this is that they've been lying about their motivation for being involved that they were closer to the victim then they had led on etc this is like the secret point and if you've done your job correctly including and especially if it's a romantic storyline they've had moments where they've gotten really close before and so it's a massive betrayal to the character themselves but all to the reader because they were shipping it and then this person might be the bad guy this is the moment that you really want to have you want it to be both feasible and awful that this character this major side character could have done it or been involved in it the main character feels betrayed but so does the reader and then of course like it depends on what you're doing with your book maybe they are the bad guy and that's part of your final act twist or it is a red herring but a really really good kind of final hurdle one because it gives the main character that reason to not trust the person and to run away from them right into the arms of danger so your next expected beat is well they've run into the arms of danger they think that they're safe and good but there's the first aha moment of wait it was and of course that aha moment comes when it's too late they are already in the clutches of whatever this big climax finale confrontation is you want them to be alone or away from help so that it is a moment that has real stakes and right in the moment or right after like you this is so it's a delicate dance how you pull this off but right in that aha moment that is when the bad guy closes in and the character realizes that they're alone they're trapped and is real so there's a beat in the Blake Snider beat sheet that is very very interesting and this is where you're going to do it which is it's called the hint of death or the sniff of death and it's a high-stakes very real moment or micro moment where it is very real to the character slash and or the reader but the character could die it's less necessary in some Story types but very necessary in a thriller slash suspense book you need the stakes to feel really real that the main character is trapped and could die or similar to that it needs to not be too obvious or easy to the reader how the main character is going to get out of it so this leads to the big beat the confrontation and revelation beat which is so hard to pull off egg it's all a delicate dance but this is where you get your villain monologue but you have to be careful but it's not a straight-up villain monologue but you kind of need this person to explain why they did it what's been going on the whole time you're dropping those last-minute bombs things that both clarify and explain things that came before there's often violence or a chase son being injured or tied up this is again to increase the stakes and help with that kind of trapped thing you can do all sorts of things within this you can have the main character try to save their ass by like pretending to go along with the bad guy you can have them run but essentially at the end of this big moment they have to be irrevocably trapped because that's when you get this dark night of the soul this is the all is lost moment for the character though you could also put it right before this if they've fallen out with their foil the thing about structure is that it's not always set in stone but you want to hit the beats kind of in the right area the dark night of the soul is the everything is lost and everything is hopeless moment so after this you want confrontation number two and sometimes these are all in the same scene but usually after the initial moment there's the Dark Knight at the soul and then another confrontation with in the confrontation this is really really common where after they have actually legitimately given up there's another moment of connection with the killer of getting vital information but this is also where you can go for a wham to punch twist so this could be the moment where there's a moment of hope someone comes in to save them it could be that sidekick slash foil it could be the cop who's been investigating and there should be a moment where either that character is involved and or they think that they're involved and there's like this gasp moment where main either truly effed because everyone is against them and they've gotten to something bigger than they could possibly understand and they kind of every true or not true or it could be a case where they think that someone's about to come help or rescue them but they're incapacitated as well some through to a more elongated confrontation it really depends on the situation in your book where like there could even be a change of venue in a big finale like I read one where the confrontation reveals started in one place and then they took them to another place and then it was like someone they thought someone came to rescue them but then they were incapacitated and so it's almost like there were multiple dark nights at the SOL because ultimately the character hoped for help thought they got help wasn't help and then they had to help themselves so you can do a bit of up and down and jerking the reader around just don't jerk them around too much but you definitely want to play a little bit in this big third act climax it shouldn't be too simplistic and it shouldn't go by too fast and be too easily resolved because that's how you have a reader who isn't satisfied with your big climax this is what we're reading towards so you are allowed to milk it just a little bit just be careful because it all leads you to your Big Finish this is your big moment where the character overcomes the bad guy they incapacitate them they kill them the cavalry arrive and they are rescued there's that classic one where they black out but they're saved there are lots of different ways to do it but there's a big finish but you are not done so here's the trick with a good thriller you have to give people a chance to kind of breathe an exhale after your Big Finish and the biggest mistake I've seen in a thriller that is ultimately unsatisfying other than things not being foreshadowed or making sense is when the big finish's the end of the book I hate that and I think most thriller readers hate it and yet many authors do it you need a Denham all after your Big Finish it has to be a moment of kind of calm and reflection definitely reflection you need to give that main character a chance to absorb and reflect everything that's happened I mean you see a lot of cliches where it's like they're in the hospital or they're in one last interview with the cop or they're reunited with the person that they were trying to help or what-have-you it's a moment of calm it's a moment of reflection and it's usually not a single scene you Oana usually have a series of scenes and/or chapters that are going to wrap things up it could be the main character apologizing to people it could be that they reconnect with people and another option within here I would call it a micro beat it is an optional beat and you can either do it on the last page or right before if you do it at all but it's definitely one that many thriller readers expect so you have your conclusion you've wrapped everything up you explained it in the confrontation scene you explained it after all are fully done because you're great at this and then you have a micro twist so this is the moment it's sometimes major but it's usually minor but it's sometimes major sometimes it's the questioning everything you thought you knew about the book but you can also do the literal micro twist where there's something that felt wrapped up where it seemed obvious that the bad guy had done it or it didn't seem obvious that the bad guy had done it and he have a micro twist moment right at the very end where something that the main character and the reader believed to be true is just turned on its head at the last moment so it could be like common examples someone was being blackmailed but it comes out at the very end it wasn't the super bad guy it was this other person who had good intentions or maybe bad intentions and can they really trust that person but sometimes it's also kind of that micro twist that throws everything into chaos but then the book ends anyway of like maybe they weren't working alone or what-have-you but that's definitely an option for you it is a micro beat that many for their readers are familiar with and loved but it's also totally optional you can just also wrap up your story because the key thing is don't not wrap up your story it's the Stella kit line everything's delicate in this video between wrapping up your threads and having things be logical and not having dropped plots and not too aggressively wrapping up your heads and like telling the reader whoa this is the connection and solution for every single thing that happen in this book you have to make sure you resolve just enough and resolve the right so that you don't leave the reader unsatisfied so those are a ton of beats and thoughts on roller structure that will hopefully help you write a thriller you don't have to have every single one that I went over but they're common enough that I came up with them to talk about and if you really want to have an artful satisfying thriller making sure that you're hitting these beats is a really good place to start or thinking about these beats as you're brainstorming as you're outlining making sure you have the complexity and you're thriller to hit some of these because a thriller shouldn't just be an a plot of something bad happen an investigation point abcdefg two big conclusion it shouldn't be that simple that isn't going to be ultimately satisfying for the reader you have to think about all of the complex ways to interweave threads to have emotional character moments so that everything builds up to a big finish that is satisfying talking about beats is always slightly exhausting especially because I try not to be prescriptive and say you must do this to fit them in this order because every story is a little bit different I clearly just went over a pretty linear thriller structure but let me know it down below in the comments do you have any questions about thriller beats are there big beats that I haven't mentioned like four different kinds of stories I'm sure I've missed some like beats that you love in a good thriller or suspense story drop those down below and give the studio thumbs-up I will make more videos about writing thrillers and thriller structure and whatnot because I'm kind of like low-key obsessed with it no and if you're not I subscribe to the channel go ahead and do that I post new videos two to three times a week and don't forget to hit the notification bell so that you hear every time I post a video as always guys thank you so much for watching and happy writing

Channel: Alexa Donne

Views: 66,687

Keywords: alexa donne, author tube, writing advice, how to write a book, publishing advice, writing a thriller, thriller writing, thriller beats, how to write a thriller, must know thriller beats, essential thriller beats

Id: ymjt75htlAw

Length: 32min 52sec (1972 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 17 2020