Introduction

Psychological thrillers are a sub-genre of horror that explores the creatively deranged or disturbed mind of everyday people combined with themes of horror, thriller, mystery, tension, and suspense. Psychological thrillers are creepy and like to leave readers wondering why we do what we do to ourselves and or each other. Let’s explore some of the elements that make for a page-turning thriller.

Character

• Develop characters that are real. They should be ordinary and have character flaws that are believable. This makes the reader able to relate to the characters. You want your readers to care about the characters in one way or another. Remember, they are everyday people. Get inside their head. Understanding their internal fears, flaws, traumas, phobias, etc., for these, will be catalysts that will drive the plot of the thriller.
• Your hero should be extraordinary in some capacity. Not at superhero level, but enough for them to stand out in the crowd. Or maybe their sense of reality may be deteriorating. It’s all in the mind.
• Create emotional connections to minor characters. The minor characters are just as important and one moment with them can add more depth to your character development.
• Your antagonist should use mental tactics that defy convention. Don’t be afraid to get weird and creepy with your character. Embrace your manipulative side when creating this character. Who have you met every day that scared the jeepers out of you? Recreate that feeling. Psychological thrillers explore dark and obsessive relationships, affairs, jealousy, marriage, divorce, and death.
• Your characters should make poor, but understandable, decisions. Moral ambiguity is a common trope in psychological thrillers.

Plot

• Create a killer concept – What makes your story stand out from others?
• Use the unreliable narrator – it is a staple in this genre. Part of a plot twist can include a once-good character becoming volatile, and an evil character becoming good. You won’t know who to vote for in the end. Can we even believe what the character is even telling themselves? The reader should not know who to trust. How do we know that the narrator is not criminally insane? (Example: The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe)
• Plot twists are the bread and butter of a good psychological thriller. You want to shock your readers. You want them to never see what you have planned coming. Put time and effort into building your plot twist. However, you want the plot twist to be believable and inevitable.

Tone

• Scare your audience – but be smart about your scares. Don’t be too obvious or cliche. Your writing should suggest an urgency or impending feeling of doom. You want your readers to feel the same goosebumps, knots in stomachs, and hair-on-end emotions that your character is experiencing.
• Create tension that is exciting, fast-paced, and complex. This will engage the reader quickly. You want to put the reader right in the middle of all the action. Use language that describes exactly what’s going on and who’s involved.
• Use suspense to drive the plot along. You want to leave the reader hanging, but don’t let the action drop. Set up what’s coming next with suspense. End each chapter with a preview into the next, and create tension at the last minute that will keep the reader turning pages.

Setting

• Focus on the familiar. Set your story in a place that the readers can relate to like the home or workplace – remember these are usually ordinary people leading seemingly ordinary lives.
• Your subjects should also be familiar – with marriage, affairs, family, sibling rivalry, jealousy, friendships, parenting, etc. Readers want to be able to see themselves in the story.
• Psychological thrillers are like fast-paced mysteries – you want to use the time to your advantage.

Sources

Richardson, Hannah. “How to Write a Psychological Thriller Novel.” Pen and the Pad, Pen and the Pad, 6 July 2021, penandthepad.com/write-psychological-thriller-novel-4868677.html.

Wynne, Paula. “Psychological Thriller Checklist for Writers.” Writing Goals, Writing Goals, Aug. 2019, writinggoals.com/writing-advice/psychological-thriller-checklist-for-writers.