Detective-Crime-Thriller Class
How to Write the Most Twisted
of All Story Forms
The Usual Suspects, Oscar winning screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie
“The greatest trick the Devil every pulled was convincing
the world he didn’t exist.”
Want to know how this course can get you a full diploma in screen, television, or novel writing?
% of credits this course gets you to diploma
To learn more…
Want to create your unique story brand?
“Thanks to your class, I’m so excited to find out that Parade Magazine has named my new thriller, Behind Every Lie, as one of the best books of the year!”
- Christina McDonald
“I’m writing to thank John for every rich thing I’ve learned from him about the Detective genre. My agent sold my Detective series, my first fiction, this week in a three-book deal to Tyndale House Publishers. I’m so deeply grateful.”
– Patricia Raybon
The problem we're solving for
Are you most interested in truth? These story forms are about the unending search for truth, the struggle to claw through the facades, lies and misdirection that cheapen daily life. The truth may set you free. But these most honorable of all genres are a nightmare to structure.
The Solution:
The Detective-Crime-Thriller Class
These genres have the most complicated plot twists in all writing, but with our DETECTIVE-CRIME-THRILLER AUDIO CLASS you’ll “complicate” with the best.
The DETECTIVE-CRIME-THRILLER AUDIO CLASS shows you how to create the investigators, murderers and suspects, the intricacies of the crimes, the plot twists, the special story beats and the underlying themes of these popular forms.
It also gives you detailed instruction on how to transcend these genres to write something truly special, like the classic hits L.A. Confidential, The Usual Suspects and Silence of the Lambs.
Detective-Crime-Thriller Course Guide
Here are the main subjects we cover in the 19 modules:
1. The 10 Detective Story Beats
2. Detective Strengths & Weaknesses
3. The Killer & the Mystery Code
4. Investigative Techniques
5. Solving the Crime
6. Transcending Detective
7. The 8 Crime Story Beats
8. The Crime & the Master Criminal
9. Cat & Mouse
10. Crime Endgame
11. Crime Genres
12. Criminal as Hero
13. Crime Caper
14. Transcending Crime
15. The 9 Thriller Story Beats
16. Investigation & Attack
17. Suspicious Evidence
18. Final Thriller Beats
19. Transcending Thriller
Features
• Mind detectives vs. character detectives
• Puzzle solving
• Detective archetypes
• The criminal as hero
• Logic vs. intuition
• The Cosmic Detective story
• The triple-layer story
• Finding the criminal in the self
• A step-by-step process for writing a detective-crime story
• Woman as killer, victim, and detective
• The super-cop and the super-criminal
• Key questions for writing the crime story
• The thriller – Hollywood’s sexiest form