Kills, Thrills & Chills: Writing the Thriller Novel
1-30 March 2008 
$30
Registration end 29 Feb 2008

INSTRUCTOR: CJ Lyons

CLASS DESCRIPTION:  Thrillers are hot!  Look at any best-seller list and you'll find an overwhelming number of thriller novels.  What makes a thriller different from other genres?  How can you use techniques common to thrillers to make your own novels compelling, no matter the genre?  And where the heck do those thriller writers come up with those ideas?

Join award winning thriller author CJ Lyons for an in depth discussion of the thriller genre.  Topics covered will include: the genre in general, plotting and pacing, research, the quirks of thriller characters, and more.  CJ will dissect several popular thrillers as examples, offer insights from bestselling thriller novelists such as Robin Cook, Vicki Hinze, Carla Neggers, Robert Gregory Browne, JoAnn Ross, and Lisa Gardner as well as tips from several reviewers who specialize in crime fiction.  By the course conclusion, you will have all the tools necessary to craft a compelling thrill-ride of your own!

COURSE OUTLINE:

• Intro
• What makes a thriller?
• World building
• Good guys
• Bad guys
• Thrillers with heart: adding emotional depth
• Theme: the key to plot
• Plotting and pacing and pinching
• Hooks and twists
• Research tricks
• Survival of the fit: thrillers in today's marketplace
• Conclusion

INSTRUCTOR BIO: Award winning author CJ Lyons is a physician trained in Pediatric Emergency Medicine.  She has assisted police and prosecutors with cases involving child abuse, rape, homicide and Munchausen by Proxy and has worked in several trauma centers, on the Navajo reservation, as a crisis counselor, victim's advocate, as well as a flight physician for Life Flight.  Her first novel, BLINK OF AN EYE, was a 2004 Golden Heart Finalist and her second novel, SLEIGHT OF HAND, won the 2004 Golden Gateway.  She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, RWA, Sisters in Crime, and the International Thriller Writers and has presented national workshops for MWA, Romantic Times, RWA and ITW.  Her writing has appeared in CrimeSpree Magazine, Romantic Times Book Reviews and Spinetingler Magazine. 

Contact her at www.cjlyons.net

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