Possible Thrillers

Diary 2 Minutes

I received a comment asking me if I can write short thrillers. What an interesting comment. I’ve never thought about this. And also I’ve never thought that I am capable of it since my life is relatively dull and uneventful, my mind is relatively embedded in its usual trivial domestic concerns, and my imagination is usually restricted to the realm of stretching whatever I’ve observed just a little bit to make little stories. However this comment makes me think that probably I should think about it, no matter how much it is beyond my reach. If I don’t try, how do I know?

Up until now, everything I’ve written is based on true stories. Even the two stories, in which the wife (the same characters in both stories) tries to poison her husband, are based on a true story happened in a town near Princeton several years ago. The couple had a baby boy and the husband, who was a computer engineer, was trying to divorce his wife. The wife worked in a biology lab and had access to thallium, a lethal chemical. She put it in the juice her husband liked to drink. The unsuspecting husband drank the juice and fell unconscious. The ambulance was called and he was rushed to Princeton Hospital. The husband’s condition got worse every day with strange full body symptoms that the doctors couldn’t understand. Since this is a very good hospital, the doctors and nurses brainstormed their ideas to try to understand what had happened. One nurse proposed that there might be chemical involved and she knew stories like this. Since the hospital had no such specialist, some experts in the New Jersey poison control center had to be contacted, and the patient blood and tissue samples had to be sent out to be tested in labs that specialize in such things.

Well, I digress. Now coming back to my main theme of trying to find a way to write a story that is thrilling, I can think of several things that I can probably write:

  1. In the 13th century, a Korean girl tried to save Korea from the Mongol invasion by assassinating the leader of the Mongol army and his chief advisor.
  2. An old man was dead in a mansion in the Jersey Shore, and several people were the main suspects. The old man turned out to be a henchman of a notorious dictator from a fictional country called Tanasia. He retired and wanted to live with his children, all of whom were settled in New Jersey with his money obtained from murder and corruption. However he would not live in peace in his retirement. People wanted him to pay for his past crime.
  3. A girl tries to save her town as global warming brings flood, forest fire, and tornado.
  4. I can write a story about an immigrant girl whose family runs the only Asian restaurant in a town close to the Amish country in Pennsylvania. This story may be fashioned like “Little Dorrit” by Charles Dickens, but I want this girl to be more eccentric.

It is fun to think of things that are not based on real stories. I’ve never done that and I wonder how I should approach these characters–how real, how unreal.

Published by haoyando

Published

32 thoughts on “Possible Thrillers”

  1. You got what it takes to write a good story. You remind me of Anchee Min, one of my favorite authors. She moved to Chicago from Shanghai not knowing a word of English and yet somehow she was able to write a fair number of award winning novels.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Oh, that’s tough. I am glad I learned English beforehand. LOL. It would be very difficult to live in a place without knowing the local language. Yet I know many people who live a life like that without much problem at all.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  2. I think it would be very interesting to see what you can come up with in the thriller genre. I always enjoy your stories and I think I will enjoy this as well. My vote goes to 2 and 4.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  4. I would like to encourage you to try. Your audience here is friendly and receptive and if any of us had any criticism you know it would be gentle. I would like to read any of them but number 1 sounds interesting because I know you like history. Number 4 sounds fun, too. They’re all good ideas.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. I can hardly wait for your stories, whether truth or fiction but now I can no longer let my wife serve me juice. I will be keeping little single serving bottles or boxes and checking the seal carefully before drinking.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. Wow, Geoff, the story does sound quite morbid and it makes people question our life and people around us. It is a true story. I am sure you don’t need to feel worried or concerned. Being such a good husband and father, you’ve earned all the respect and good will from everybody, including your fans online.

      Like

      Reply

      1. Iā€™m sure youā€™ll do it very well. We all believe in you šŸ˜€
        Btw, I was thinking about you yesterday when I had Biryani. I remember one of your old posts about ā€œdifferent dishes made from riceā€ and you mentioned Biryani in it. I said in the comments that Iā€™d sponsor you a yummy Biryani if ever you come to India! šŸ˜‰ So; yeah… Happebed to remember that post of yours while eating it. šŸ’– Woulenā€™t it be wonderful if we get to meet our virtual friends in real life just like that using some sort of teleporting machine? šŸ˜œ Lol. Iā€™m sure my social awkwardness would spoil everything, but would be nice to have technology develop to that extent. šŸ˜Œ

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

        1. Wow, I can smell your Biryani from here. Yummy. I am eating it right now vicariously through your comment. You make me laugh. That’s very romantic of you to think of such things. That’s nice. It is a beautiful thing to do. Technology is a wonderful thing. We women, we have to think of safety and be vigilant about meeting strangers. Still we dream of adventures. Love your comment.

          Liked by 1 person

Leave a reply to haoyando Cancel reply