When I’m not teaching or running my fledgling business, I write thrillers. The first one took me ten years. The next two were much quicker–2-3 each. During that long time frame, writing any type of novel has become much more sociable, thanks to the internet. No more must I go to the local library to research a topic, call an expert and exchange call-back messages until we finally connect. Now, I google my question, click, and read. No writer with a computer and an internet connection can ever be uninformed.
I’ve developed a nice list of helpful spots I go to when researching various details of writing my thriller. Some are factual, some subjective, but they all provide essential ingredients to the thriller soup.
- International Thriller Writers–the biggest and most authoritative group for thriller writers. ITW sponsors an annual conference (ThrillFest), a monthly magazine and a comprehensive website. If you’re a published thriller author, membership is free.
- ScienceThrillers.com–-This is specifically for thriller writers in the science and medical genre. The buyline–Where thriller fans put their geek on–says it all
- ThrillFest–Hands down, the best annual meeting of thriller writers, agents, aficionados. This year it’s at the Grand Hyatt in New York July 11-14
- American Academy of Forensic Science–the website of AAFS. It includes links to those details so important to thriller writers with the credibility only provided by those in the trenches.
- International Association for Identification–the world’s oldest and largest forensic science/identification organization. It includes access to their publication, their annual conference, links they consider important and more.
If you write thrillers, do you have any favorite websites, blogs, Nings that help you excel at your craft?
Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-fifth grade and creator of two technology training books for middle school. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy midshipman. She is webmaster for five blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, IMS tech expert, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything and Technology in Education. Currently, she’s working on a techno-thriller that should be ready this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
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Thanks, Julie. I try to stay on top of my genre and these make it easier to do.
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This is great, thanks for sharing these sites!
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