Color me confused, too.

You can call your book "a thriller" but you can't call it "a suspense." I like the idea of writing "a thriller" more than writing "a book with suspense." I might call some of those "a mystery."

As for the definition, psychological thrillers are usually smaller stories, not about saving the world and becoming embroiled in some conspiracy. Some of my favorite movies fall into that category. Hell, I'd say not enough movies these days!

I'm planning out an erotic psychological thriller right now.

 

Once upon a time they were the exact same thing. And they were often applied to simple mysteries.  (People would talk about Agatha Christie's "latest thriller", for instance.  Perry Mason novels were considered thrillers too.)

There may be some folks who have a really sharp division between the two, and I can't speak for them.  I'm just going from what I see:

Suspense seems to be aimed at the softer end of the genre.  More often applied to women's genres (romantic suspense, for instance), or midlist books.  Thrillers seem to be applied to harder-edged books, and those aiming a little more at the best seller, blockbuster, breakout books.  But either might be applied to the other.

The one specific difference I see is that some screenwriting gurus are much more uptight about the genre definition of Thriller: the ordinary person caught in a web, who can't go to the authorities, opposed by forces much more powerful than himself. (Think "North By Northwest.")

All the same, we usually apply "thriller" to things like Silence of the Lambs, or other stories about authority figures hunting lone serial killers.  They are not at all the same trope -- but they evoke the same feelings.

If it says "Thriller" I generally assume it's too gory and gruelling for me, unless I've read the author's work before. (Robert Crais' hard-boiled fiction is often called "Thriller" and sometimes police procedurals are called that.  That's why I think it's come to mean "blockbuster of the mystery persuasion" these days.)

Hmmmm.

I guess in the end, I say "I dunno" too.

Camille

 

If it says "Thriller" I generally assume it's too gory and gruelling for me, unless I've read the author's work before. (Robert Crais' hard-boiled fiction is often called "Thriller" and sometimes police procedurals are called that. That's why I think it's come to mean "blockbuster of the mystery persuasion" these days.)

don't agree with that. I consider Brad Thor/Vince Flynn to be thrillers and they are definitely not gory....but then they can also be seen as suspense as well I suppose. Personally I consider them fairly interchangeable

 

don't agree with that. I consider Brad Thor/Vince Flynn to be thrillers and they are definitely not gory....but then they can also be seen as suspense as well I suppose. Personally I consider them fairly interchangeable

It's all suspense -- that's the bigger category. It's a description rather than a genre. But when I see something advertised as "Thriller" it's usually what I used to consider to be horror.

This may well be changing (the fads tend to move quickly). But for a while there it was almost a guarantee.

Camille

 

I suppose I could see how Thriller could be seen as horror, but never connected the two personally.

 

I suppose I could see how Thriller could be seen as horror, but never connected the two personally.

The International Thriller Writers association publishes this mag called The Big Thrill. It always lists horror as a sub-genre of thrillers.

http://www.thebigthrill.org

As a writer and reader of non-horror thrillers (ok, horrifying is not horror), I would like to see the two sub-genres given separate treatment. However, having said that, IMO some horror books can be classified as "psychological thriller" e.g. Silence of the Lambs, so maybe that's why the lines are blurred there.

To add to the confusion, if you look at the latest edition of The Big Thrill (above link) there are tons of books there I would call suspense but not thrillers.

Lisa Scottoline, IMO, writes suspense, but if you were to categorize her books, they would have to fall under "legal thrillers" though I can tell you that after reading her books, I still come to the conclusion that they are suspense. In the same November edition, I also spotted Clive Cussler. He writes "action adventure" mostly! And Stuart Woods? I would say suspense too. I don't recall Woods writing thrillers ever. His stories are really all suspense.

So the jury is out IMO the ITW wants to have a big tent so they can expand their membership base. Good for them but it doesn't clear up any confusion.

The only way I can differentiate myself as a thriller writer is to use the dreaded ADJECTIVE and stick to my sub-genre of "international thrillers."

As a reader, I have to look for adjectives when I select books. For example, I also read political thrillers (which most of the time boils down to "political suspense" but that doesn't sound as explosive as "political thriller" does it LOL).

To muddy the water even further, RWA jumps into the pool. We have heard of "romantic suspense" (I think that's 90% romance and 10% suspense - but I'm being generous LOL) but have you heard of "romantic thrillers?" Apparently, CJ Lyons writes romantic thrillers and so does Sandra Brown. But with all due respect, this reader thinks that most of Brown's novels are pure "romantic suspense" and the thrills are the censored kind LOL.

 

James Frey's book is great.



I've always liked how he described the genre in his book:

 

Look on any agents list in the US and it is no different to the UK in that they seek mystery/thrillers.

Suspense is simply a component of the thriller genre which is known for the intensity of emotion it creates. Apprehension. Exhilaration. Anxiety. So Suspense is simply a tag. Many genres have suspense as a component, but they are not placed on the bookstore shelf as such. As an example, Harry potter has plenty of suspense.

An example, the sub genre of Psychological thriller, is that the antagonist seeks to destroy the mind of the protagonist, and the protagonist uses his brain power rather than physical attributes to overcome his antagonist. Now within that it can have an elements of a mystery, romance, suspense, horror,  or whatever, but at the end of the day, the traits I mention make it a psychological thriller and that's where it would be placed on a bookstore shelf.

 

...
I'm planning out an erotic psychological thriller right now.

Like this or a bit less murder? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_the_Girls

 

Color me confused, too.

You can call your book "a thriller" but you can't call it "a suspense." I like the idea of writing "a thriller" more than writing "a book with suspense." I might call some of those "a mystery."

As for the definition, psychological thrillers are usually smaller stories, not about saving the world and becoming embroiled in some conspiracy. Some of my favorite movies fall into that category. Hell, I'd say not enough movies these days!

I'm planning out an erotic psychological thriller right now.

Yes! Psychological thrillers are what I write and I have them titled that way. I hadn't really thought about them being smaller stories--and I like that they aren't about saving the world, but there are terrorist acts that need stopping that might harm hundreds of people. Is that still small? Those plots are almost sub-plots though.

I get so confused about genres.

 

Like this or a bit less murder? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_the_Girls

So it is a psychological thriller, with elements of erotica. Yes?

 

An example, the sub genre of Psychological thriller, is that the antagonist seeks to destroy the mind of the protagonist, and the protagonist uses his brain power rather than physical attributes to overcome his antagonist. Now within that it can have an elements of a mystery, romance, suspense, horror, or whatever, but at the end of the day, the traits I mention make it a psychological thriller and that's where it would be placed on a bookstore shelf.

Yep. I'd agree with that!

 

James Frey's book is great.

Thanks! I'll have to check it out. I just started reading Jodie Renner's Killer Thriller book but it seems to be an aggregate of other writing books. But we'll see.

Suspense seems to be aimed at the softer end of the genre. More often applied to women's genres (romantic suspense, for instance), or midlist books. Thrillers seem to be applied to harder-edged books, and those aiming a little more at the best seller, blockbuster, breakout books. But either might be applied to the other.

I like that definition!!!

 

I always thought the difference between suspense and thriller is the pacing.

In suspense, a guy is following you with an axe.
In thriller, the guy is chasing you with the axe.