Noelle W. Ihli on Reading Survival Thrillers in a World of Real Danger
Noelle W. Ihli, a thriller writer, explains that readers are drawn to survival thrillers despite the real-world anxiety and terror they already face. Thrillers provide a narrative arc with a beginning, middle, and end, unlike the shapeless, never-ending anxiety of everyday life. Ihli writes thrillers to move through fear and suffering to the other side, just as she reads them for this experience. The author’s personal experience of a frightening real-life incident inspired the opening of her third thriller, “Run on Red.”
- Survival thrillers offer contained narratives with clear resolutions, unlike real-world anxiety
- Authors often transform personal experiences of fear into thriller narratives
- Reading thrillers can be therapeutic by providing structured ways to process anxiety
📘 Publisher Take: Thriller authors should lean into the therapeutic aspect of the genre by crafting clear narrative arcs that help readers process real-world anxieties through fictional scenarios. This psychological benefit can be a powerful marketing angle.
Source: Crime Reads | Read full article →