Garry Disher Quotes

The way to write a thriller is to ask a question at the beginning, and answer it at the end.

I think suspense is a big thing.

If you are writing a thriller with violence in it, the ending must be violent. You are delivering a promise to your reader.

I think of setting as almost a character of its own, influencing the other characters in ways they're not even aware of. So much of the success of a good ghost story rides on creating a creepy atmosphere; details of the landscape itself can help create a sense of dread.

Though they don't always have to be set in fog, weather is incredibly important in ghost stories. As is suspense: you've got to turn the screw very, very slowly.

People want a story - and my horror films have never been about only ghosts and spirits. They have their share of love, hatred, jealousy and complexity of relationships involved.

I love writing thrillers.

With thrillers, I tend to concentrate on the research and pace more than the characters.

From a good book, I want to be taken to the very edge. I want a glimpse into that outer darkness.

I love a big, character-rich story with a dark heart, with a compelling mystery or some kind of ticking clock at its center. I want to be lured in by prose, captured by character, and bound by stellar plotting to keep turning the pages.

My favorite types of movies to watch as a viewer are thrillers - I really have a soft spot for them, I love them. Especially psychological thrillers.

Secrets make for good drama, and revealing the hidden truths and contradictions of life is, for me, one of the most exciting aspects of making movies.

Thrillers are like life, more like life than you are.

There often is a dark secret in books... There is often a gathering sense of dread; there's a gap sometimes in the text from which all kinds of monsters can emerge.

With thrillers, there's such a fine line between what's good and what's cheesy and corny.

I don't think we should tell them what we're going to do in advance. Let them think. Worry. Wonder. Uncertainty is the most chilling thing of all.

The thriller is not a recent invention. It probably goes back to the dawn of storytelling.

People just like a good crime story; they want to know who did it.

When I first started writing 'Still Missing,' I didn't actually realize I was writing a thriller. I thought it was more women's fiction, but during the many years of rewrites, I kept taking out the boring parts, and then my agent informed me that I had written a thriller.

Even though I don't necessarily believe in everything that's supernatural, I like being scared and I like things that are suspenseful.

Ironically, I wouldn't say I'm a massive horror fan. I love thrillers.

Thrillers are my favorite. I like stuff that keeps you on the edge of your seat or maybe makes you jump.

I love soap operas - the stories, the plots! And I love the game shows and the courtroom dramas and the detectives - Jessica Fletcher, 'Columbo,' 'Perry Mason,' 'L.A. Law.' Any sense of guilt appeals to me in a television program - a sense of guilt, or a sense of making a lot of money.

Crime stories are our version of sitting round a camp fire and telling tales. We enjoy being scared under safe circumstances. That's why there's no tradition of crime writing in countries that have wars.

I respond very well to rules. If there are certain parameters it's much easier to do something really good. Especially when readers know what those are. They know what to expect and then you have to wrong-foot them. That is the trick of crime fiction. And readers come to crime and graphic novels wanting to be entertained, or disgusted.