In an article for Writer’s Digest, Amanda Jayatissaaug says that creating a great premise for your next thriller novel is as simple as asking “what if?”
“Innocuous as these words are, if you ask yourself this question often enough, even while going about doing the most mundane of tasks, you just might land somewhere interesting,” Jayatissaaug says. “Anything can be sinister if you have a vivid enough imagination.” As you go through your day, ask yourself questions about a co-worker, the person in front of you at the grocery store, or someone at a gas station. Consider what secrets they might be hiding.
Once you’ve settled on some what-if questions, it’s time to tie that backdrop to a circumstance. “Circumstances themselves vary on your own interests,” Jayatissaaug writes. “This is why no two writers are able to write the same book even if the ‘What If?’ is similar—be it centered on cheating spouses, someone trying to outrun their past, or murder at a wedding.”
For her latest novel, Jayatissaaug’s what-if questions were prompted by an odd look on the face of the groom’s mother at a wedding. What was she thinking in that moment? The circumstances Jayatissaaug explored were the breakup of a long-term friendship. “Bringing those two elements together is what resulted in me writing about a woman who discovers that her ex-best friend is marrying her ex-boyfriend and would go to any length to stop the wedding, until the bride is presumed dead and she’s blamed for the murder,” she writes. But the circumstances could have focused on any of the members of the wedding or another kind of emotional theme.
Jayatissaaug also suggests taking the premise of a book or movie from a different genre – like romance or science fiction – and adding a dead body. “How do the characters react?” she asks. “Do they fight to uncover the truth, or risk it all to make sure the truth stays hidden? Does the story itself create enough intrigue now that there’s murder involved? If the answer is yes, well, then you have a premise.”
