I'm
not a thriller writer. I've edited thrillers, I've read them, I've
taught thriller writers how to structure and refine their books. But
writing that high-tension stuff doesn't come naturally to me.
But
I've learned a LOT from working on thrillers. One skill that's
translated over into my own memoir and fiction is the thriller style of
dialogue. It's tense, it builds, it can take a mundane subject and
create undercurrent that makes the reader shiver. Best of all, it's
aces at revealing character.