Thriller 101 146 How to turn 'wasted' drafts and subverted tropes into your writing superpower with Charlene Wang
What if the tropes you love are actually holding your thriller back?
In this episode, Charlene Wang reveals how she transformed the beloved campus novel into a feminist revenge thriller by strategically subverting genre expectations.
And the results landed her a major book deal.
You'll discover the counterintuitive truth about "wasted" drafts (spoiler: nothing is ever wasted), learn how to weaponize social media as a character psychology tool rather than just a plot device, and understand why the most compelling morally gray characters make us root for their goals while questioning their methods.
If you're struggling to make your thriller feel fresh or your contemporary setting feel authentic, this conversation will fundamentally change how you approach revision and might just save you years of trial and error.
Bio:
Charlene Wang was born in Beijing and, after immigrating to the US when she was three, has lived in seven different cities from Los Angeles to Rockville to Biloxi. Graduating with a B.A. in English from Dartmouth College and a J.D. from University of Virginia School of Law, she worked as a litigator for six years before quitting to pursue her childhood dream of becoming an author. She now lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her fiancé and their dog Winky.
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