.webp)
.avif)
Have you heard the writing adage that the setting of a novel becomes a character in itself? While this applies in every genre—historical, fantasy, children’s—it’s perhaps most defined in the destination thriller. The destination thriller requires a remote, isolated location that threatens the characters and transports readers into an unfamiliar (and therefore exciting) setting.
As writers, we know how crucial it is to develop a setting that develops and responds to the story and immerses our readers. With eight internationally bestselling and highly acclaimed destination thrillers, the guest on our blog today delivers this again and again: welcome, Lucy Clarke!
Selling over a million copies in the U.K. alone, Lucy Clarke’s novels include the Waterstones Thriller of the Month The Castaways, Richard and Judy Book Club pick One of the Girls, and most recently the Sunday Times bestseller The Hike. Paramount+ adapted her thrillers No Escape and The Castaways into series, with BAFTA award-winner Sheridan Smith starring as protagonist Lori in The Castaways.
A prominent feature of Lucy’s settings is their wild remoteness: The Hike takes place in the Norwegian wild, The Castaways on a Fijian island, and the events of Last Seen occur on a stretch of mostly uninhabited coastline. Lucy utilizes the imaginative potential of setting to its greatest extent, playing with and balancing both domesticity and wilderness in her novels.
In this article, Lucy answers questions on craft and the writing process and offers advice to writers at all stages of their journey. If you’re wondering what makes the perfect setting for a novel, what to do when facing challenges in your writing, and how to make readers care about your characters, you’re in the right place: read on for Lucy’s insights. If you want more advice on writing settings, head to this blog on fantasy settings or this one about the perfect settings for romance. Enjoy!
{{blog-banner-6="/blog-banners"}}
Hi Lucy! You’ve said in the past that you choose your settings based on where you’ve traveled. How do you know when you’re in the right setting? What makes for the perfect setting for one of your novels?
Hello! A great setting for me usually involves wild spaces—whether that is the Norwegian mountains in The Hike, free-diving in Tasmanian waters in A Single Breath, or sailing around the Philippines in No Escape. Sometimes these settings are places that I’ve already travelled to and felt inspired by, or they could just as easily be locations I’ve heard about and am eager to explore. I always go on a research trip for each book, partly because it is fun, but also because it helps bring to life the setting with authenticity.
Do you start with setting or story? And how much of each do you plan before you start writing?
Typically I start with place. I’m fascinated by the shift in characters when they are removed from an environment they know intimately and displaced somewhere foreign. I enjoy seeing how they react—whether they flourish or flounder in that new space—and, ultimately, how the experience changes them.
Beyond choosing the setting, I usually plan very little. I’ll know loosely who my protagonist is and the atmosphere that I’m looking to create, but I don’t produce detailed outlines or chapter breakdowns. Instead, I find my way into the story by writing a very rough and quick free-flow draft, which helps me answer a lot of the plotting and character questions that may otherwise be tackled during the planning and outlining stages.
How do you know when an idea for a novel is ‘the one’? Are you the kind of person to choose an idea and stick to it no matter what, or are you constantly going back and forth on a plan?
I have a Word document called ‘New Book Ideas’ where I jot down snippets of ideas as they land. They are typically too small and unformed to make a full book, and may be little more than a setting, an incident that’s intrigued me, or an idea for a character who I’d love to write. Often these snippets combine to form a larger canvas that may be big enough to sustain a book.
Once I’ve decided on an idea for a novel, I rarely go back and forth and change the idea, but what I do rework again and again is its execution. I’ll keep reshaping it, asking things like, What’s the best place to begin the story? Who is the best person to tell the story? What is the heart of the story?
Congratulations on the TV adaptation of The Castaways with Sheridan Smith! Your novel No Escape was similarly adapted into a series by Paramount+. Does a TV/film adaptation affect how you write the novels that follow? Do you write with an adaptation in mind, such as mentally casting characters or imagining how a location might look on screen?
Thank you! It’s been such an unexpected joy to have two novels adapted for screen. I’ve loved the whole process, from being in the writers’ room to visiting the set and meeting the crew. It was exciting to have a peek behind the curtain in an industry I knew so little about.
When I’m working on a book, I can’t say I think much about a possible adaptation or mentally cast my books (we don’t have a TV so I’m WAY out of the loop with who’s who in TV-land!). Also, tastes change so quickly in books and TV/film, so rather than thinking beyond the page, I keep my compass point set to writing the type of book that I want to read.
Every novel runs to a rhythm. It’s in the fabric of the sentences, sewn into the pauses between scenes, weaved into the beats of the plot.
Which of your books was the most challenging to write? How did you get through the problems?
My sixth novel, The Castaways, was incredibly challenging. It took me two and a half years to write. The final word count came in at 97,000 words—but I’d estimate that I wrote closer to a million words during the drafting process. My God, it was a slog!
When I began the book, all I knew was that a small plane would go down over the South Pacific and leave no trace—until the pilot is discovered two years later living under a fake identity. I didn’t know who should tell the story or what had happened to the plane and passengers, or why the pilot was in hiding. I wrote so many different versions before deciding that this story should be told from the POV of two sisters—Lori, who boards the plane, and Erin, who doesn’t. This immediately rewarded me with a huge amount of emotional territory to explore as Erin searches for answers into her sister’s disappearance.
Even though the book was incredibly tough to write—and it was my least favourite writing experience to date—I’m proud that I kept going. Ironically, The Castaways went on to be my first Sunday Times bestseller and, as you know, adapted for screen.
Do you have any advice for writers seeking to make readers care about their characters?
Creating characters who readers care about is key to a successful novel—but it’s also so bloody hard to pull off! In the novel I’m copy-editing now, The Surf House, I really struggled with my protagonist, Bea. I knew exactly who she was, but there was a disconnect on the page and I worried that readers wouldn’t care enough about her. I did another pass specifically on her character and the three things that really helped me unlock Bea’s character were:
- I made her more active. In earlier drafts, Bea was buffeted by events rather than making active decisions, so I explored ways to make her more active and decisive.
- I showed more of her vulnerabilities. There’s a scene where Bea’s learning to surf and in my original version, she aced her first wave. But I later rewrote the scene to show her struggling and frustrated, finally getting smashed in the face by her board and riding to shore with blood streaming from her nose. This helped humanise her.
- I went deeper with interior reflection, asking, what would Bea feel here? What is she saying to herself? These moments of pause were helpful for digging deeper into how Bea truly feels, which was sometimes very different to what she was showing other characters.
Do you have any advice for writers trying to pace their novel to maximize suspense and tension?
Every novel runs to a rhythm. It’s in the fabric of the sentences, sewn into the pauses between scenes, weaved into the beats of the plot.
Tied together, these threads create the pace of a novel. In a thriller, the body count doesn’t have to be high. We don’t necessarily need grisly crimes or high-speed chases to keep readers’ hearts pumping. Pacing, first and foremost, comes from character. If readers care about our characters, then they stand in their shoes, taking that wild ride not only with them, but as them.
Secondly, I think there’s great power in the pause. We may think readers need to be propelled ever upward on a one-way trajectory of thrills and spills, but what we’re really looking for is a rise and fall of tension. After a big chase, we crave those quieter scenes to catch our breath and process the action. Let the drama settle and allow the reader to grow comfortable again—before sticking them with the next reveal.
Lucy joins writers at The Novelry for a live writing class hosted by The Novelry writing coach Emylia Hall, cozy crime aficionado and author of the bestselling series The Shell House Detectives. Members of The Novelry can access the class in Catch Up TV.
For more tips on writing and editing your novel from bestselling authors, join us on a creative writing course at The Novelry today. Sign up for courses, coaching and a community from the world’s top-rated writing school.
.avif)
