How do thriller/mystery authors hook and hold their readers?

•By creating that sensation of excitement and suspense that makes the reader want to know what happens next.

• The author provides thrills and keeps the audience cliff-hanging at the "edge of their seats" as the plot builds towards a climax.

•Authors do this usually by creating tension an placing the character in a menacing situation, a mystery, or a trap from which escaping seems impossible.

•Dan brown of the DaVinci code lost Symbol and Angels and Demons has tension and cliff hangers in all of his books

•Also some writers choose to create a villain who can combat the protagonists smarts and abilities such as in Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

•Doyle creates the villain Professor moriarty that has the same amount of wit and cunning to combat Holmes and makes a worthy opponent.

•This can create thrill and a good fight within the book

How do thriller/mystery writers persuade their readers?

• The reader experiences a vicarious thrill by identifying with the hero and the

danger he faces, becoming a participant in the chase. • An exciting title gives the author help to persuade the reader to want to read

the book.

• Dan brown persuades a reader such as me by making more of his books

• When reading one of his books and loving it, when he writes a second one you want to read it.

• Brown always keeps the book exciting using millions of cliff hangers

What are the basic literary elements and writing styles thriller/mystery authors use to write their books? How do they rate in these areas?

•Dan Brown the author of the DaVinci code and lost symbol uses literary elements such as foreshadowing and Flashback

•His main character Robert Langdon experiences many flashbacks of his childhood

•Almost all of browns characters in the lost experience flashbacks, it is a main and important part of creating his plot

•He does very well in these areas because his books are widely read. Many love his books because people enjoy reading them.

What is the most important part of a thriller/mystery novel? What makes you want to read the book?

•The climax and the cliffhangers in the story are the most important

•In Dan Browns Lost Symbol almost all of his chapters end with a cliff hanger. This is what makes the book exciting.

•He develops ideas and events that will catch you by surprise. Such as in the Lost Symbol the antagonist of the story is one of the protagonists son.

• In the DaVinci code one of Roberts oldest and most trusted friends is actually the antagonist of the story.

Does a thriller/mystery novel focus on the development of the plot and the storyline or does it focus on characterization and creating good and

believable characters? What does the genre do a better job in?

•Most focus on the development of the plot and storyline

•Dan Brown has the same main character in all three of his books who is Robert Langdon.

•From reading his books he does not always explain in much detail the characters of the story only a brief overview and goes straight to the action.

•In the first couple pages Dan brown explains to you some of his characters. As his stories progress and more characters get introduced he explain them to you.

•In Dan Browns books he uses flashbacks to develop the characters as well as buffing up the storyline and plot.

•The flashback of Katherine Solomon ,of the lost symbol, is a key part of the plot but also explains to you and describes what type of person Katherine is

•Brown does this with all of his characters.

What makes a thriller/mystery so interesting? What does the thriller/mystery genre have that other genres don't. What makes it

unique? • Most do not have the thrill of the story that these books have

•Dan Brown is a unique way of writing

•His character Robert Langdon a professor is always solving mysteries in his books but is making it challenging for Robert and running into problems.

•Brown and Doyle both use characters who are witty and smart this also makes this genre different from others the don’t have these type of characters