Cathie Dunn writes...

Author Ian Walkley is my guest today as part of his blog tour sharing his new release, No Remorse, a dramatic thriller. Make sure to check out the details of his other stops! To learn more about Ian, I've asked him some questions. Here goes... 1) What inspired the plot for No Remorse ? When I was running my marketing consultancy I traveled a great deal, and loved to read escapist thrillers while flying. I wanted to write a book that other travelers would enjoy. In my younger days, my writing heroes were Ludlum, Maclean, Wilbur Smith—action, adventure, global conspiracies—so I naturally gravitated to thrillers. When I began writing No Remorse , in 2008, I had in mind writing a Ludlum-esque prologue about some mysterious event, and weaving a story around it. I was curious about Saddam’s missing WMD’s, so I came up with the idea of Saddam passing nuclear materials to an old Saudi Prince who buried them in the Arabian desert just before the invasion.  However, over the thr...

Today, I welcome Canadian  Matt Chatelain , author of The Caves of Etretat . As a keen reader of thrillers, I asked him to tell us how he plots conspiracy thrillers. Handing over to Matt... How to plot a Conspiracy Thriller! Years ago, I bought a business book called 'The Idea-Virus'. The basic concept is broadcast by its name: an idea that acts like a virus by infesting your mind until it cannot be rooted out. Rather insidious isn't it? A conspiracy is a twisted idea-virus, or, if the conspiracy turns out to be true, a straight-line idea-virus.  Just like a regular virus, idea-viruses can be virulent or mild, sometimes even beneficial. When you think about it, all ideas are idea-viruses. They are all concepts which have found a home in your mind and will not be rooted out, no matter the extremes you go to. For example, could you rid yourself of the idea of clothing, or fire?  No, of course not. A conspiracy is a virulent idea-virus. It is airborne, car...