William

William asked Linwood Barclay:

Hi there. LOVE your books and I'm reading Parting Shot right now. What do you recommend as far the length of a suspense novel? What range would you encourage new writers to write in?

Linwood Barclay Good question, and one I have thought about lately. I've always thought a thriller needed to be at least 100,000 words. Most of mine are 105-120,000. But some of the bestselling thrillers like The Girl on the Train are coming in at around 90,000. I've gone shorter with next year's book, A Noise Downstairs. I think it's around 95,000. So there is a range. But I think 80-85,000 is the minimum. If you Ken Follett, feel free to go to 200,000....

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A Goodreads user

A Goodreads user asked Linwood Barclay:

Why did you think you had to start killing off so many characters after your first two books? I have had to bail, reluctantly. It's great that Stephen King likes your books now, but I loathe Stephen King's books. Too bad.

Francisco Villarroel

Francisco Villarroel asked Linwood Barclay:

Hi. Let me just start out by saying that you are my number one favorite author of all mystery/thriller authors. I truly loved all the Promise Falls series and I was wondering, are you ever going to write another Promise Falls book?

Laura

Laura asked Linwood Barclay:

Hi Linwood, I just finished reading Trust Your Eyes & have read all those before it and thoroughly enjoyed them. In TYE, there was a lot going on, with some big themes, but it didn't feel like too much. I'm just wondering if you ever worry about putting too many different aspects into a story (potentially confusing the reader), or not enough, and how you manage to find the right balance? Thanks, Laura

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Linwood Barclay

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