Crime Stories & Thrillers

The truth will set you free. Are you most interested in truth? This form is about the unending search for truth, the struggle to claw through the facades, lies and misdirections that cheapen daily life. But this most honorable of all forms is a nightmare to structure.

Unlike drama where you track the development of the character through the action, here you must do that and set up an elaborate smoke screen to fool the detective and the audience. This course translates your searching sensibility into a craft that turns reveals into true revelations.

Detective stories, crime stories and thrillers make up a huge percentage of the entertainment industry's annual output, in film, television and novels. These genres are part of the same murderous family, but they work quite differently.

The Crime genre is quite different from the Detective form, because it isn't about uncovering crime. It's either about committing it or fighting it. Some crime stories get inside the criminal organization and the criminal mind. Others take the point of view of the cop, the warrior in a blue uniform who has to fight those who make their own laws.

The Thriller is one of Hollywood's most popular forms because it combines the criminality and surprise of the detective form with the danger and pressure of horror.

This 6-hour DETECTIVES, CRIME STORIES, AND THRILLERS COURSE lays out a precise blueprint for how to create the investigators, murderers and suspects, the intricacies of the crimes, the plot twists, the special story beats and the underlying themes of these popular genres. It also gives you clues on how to transcend these forms to write something truly special and important.