GenresFiction
Thriller
Pressure, pace, and a ticking clock.
A thriller is a book in which the reader should feel slightly late. Something bad is moving, and the person at the centre knows just enough to be frightened and not quite enough to be safe. Pace matters, but pace is not the same as short chapters and a lot of running. The pressure comes from a clear threat, a deadline that means something, and choices that get worse as the book goes on.
You need to know what happens if the hero fails, and it should be worse than embarrassment. Give the opposition a plan that would work if nobody interfered, and let your main character be competent without being magical. Twists are welcome when they change what the reader thought the story was. A twist that only exists so the last page can wink tends to make the earlier book feel like a trick, and readers remember that feeling longer than they remember the surprise.
The kinds of book inside it
Psychological
The danger is inside a mind, or between two people who know each other well, and the question is often what is true rather than who has the gun.
Domestic
Home is not a refuge. Marriage, neighbours, or children are close enough to the threat that leaving is not a simple answer.
Legal
Courtrooms and cases give you deadlines and rules, and the drama works best when the law itself is part of the problem.
Political
Institutions have motives, and a single brave person is more convincing if the system around them is drawn with some care.
Spy & espionage
Loyalty is slippery, information is the weapon, and the reader should sometimes be unsure which side a conversation was actually on.
Techno
The science or the system has to be understandable enough to scare a general reader, and the threat should reach ordinary lives.
Action
Movement and set pieces carry more of the book, but they still need a person the reader is worried about, or the chase is just noise.
Medical
Hospitals, labs, and bodies give you urgency that doesn't have to be invented, so long as the medicine isn't decorative.
When you want a first sketch, Storywell can draft a story summary in this vein. You are still the one who writes the book. Compose an idea.