How I Get My Psychological Thriller Ideas

One of the most common questions I’m asked as a psychological thriller author is how I come up with my book ideas. And the honest answer is… with great difficulty — not in finding them, but in managing them all!

If you could peek inside my mind, you’d see an array of plots, characters, and ‘what if’ scenarios all battling for my attention.

A constant juggle of works-in-progress

At any given time, I’ve got several works on the go — all at different stages. Right now, The Twin Brother is in its final proofreading stage. As it’s almost ready for my advance readers, I can finally call it a novel. This is always an exciting point in my process.

At the same time, I’m about to proof-listen to the audiobook for The Road to Revenge, to ensure it has the right pacing and tone. And while those two books are in motion, my next idea, The Troll, has started making noise in the background.

It’s currently a tangle of thoughts and half-formed scenes, but it’s fizzing away in my mind, and I’ve begun scribbling notes and letting the characters introduce themselves.

This is a pretty typical rhythm for me. While I’m shaping and finishing one book, the next one is already knocking on my door.

A backlog of future psychological thrillers

Then there’s my idea bank, which is a gloriously messy collection of outlines, fragments, and scribbled notes. I currently have around a dozen more books I know I’ll write. Each one has its own folder, or at the very least a page of scrawl, usually titled something mysterious like That one about the pram in the river, or the bridge she’ll be thrown from.

It might sound chaotic, and in truth, it often is. But if there’s such a thing as the opposite of writer’s block, I think I’ve got it! The challenge isn’t finding ideas — it’s choosing which one to focus on next.

Capturing flashes of inspiration

If only my ideas arrived when they’re convenient. Often, they hit when I’m least expecting them, on a walk, in the shower, or at the supermarket checkout. I’ve trained myself to capture them immediately, usually by making a voice note or typing a few words into the notes app on my phone. These fragments might sit untouched for months, even years, but I trust that if the spark is there, I’ll return to it when the time is right.

As Elizabeth Gilbert writes in her book Big Magic, ideas are living things. They come to find us, and if we don’t pay attention, they’ll head off and find someone else. That idea both thrills and terrifies me. It’s one of the reasons I try to honour each spark, even if it’s just with a scribble.

Psychological thriller ideas are everywhere

One of my favourite sources of inspiration is people-watching. There’s nothing like sitting in a café, on a train, or even scrolling through social media and imagining the hidden stories behind the everyday behaviour of others.

What might be the relationship between the two of them?

Where have they just come from, and where are they going next?

What does the text say that he’s just received?

Little observations like these often turn into dark, twisty plotlines. The best psychological thrillers, I believe, grow out of believable, relatable moments, and people-watching gives me endless fuel for those.

There are threads of me in every book I write

While my books are fictional, aspects of my own life always sneak in, sometimes consciously, sometimes without me realising until later or when my husband reads it! This might be a detail from my past, a fear I’ve had, or even an overheard phrase that lodged in my mind.

Often, there’s a thread of me in my characters too, not because I write autobiographically, but because certain emotions, dilemmas, or choices feel familiar. The pain of betrayal, the tug of guilt, or the desire for justice. I might dramatise these for the sake of the story, but they all come from real places.

When readers tell me that a character felt ‘real,’ it’s often because, in some way, they were.

The spark that starts it all

So where do my psychological thriller ideas come from? Everywhere. From life. From other people. From my own memories. From chance conversations and flashes of curiosity. But most of all, from the question I ask myself again and again:

What if…?

What if your hen party took a deadly turn?

What if your husband died, leaving behind a twin who looks exactly the same?

What if you woke up in hospital, unable to recognise anyone and with no idea how you got there?

That’s where the thrill begins for me, and once the spark catches, the story won’t leave me alone until I write it.

Final thoughts

As an author, it’s deeply reassuring to know that my creative well is overflowing. I’d need another lifetime to write all the ideas I have stored away, but I’m relieved they exist and still keep coming.

I can promise you this: even if you’ve read all 29 of

them, I’ve got many, many more left to write.

Thanks so much for reading this month’s blog post. If you have any questions arising from it, or if there’s a subject you’d like me to write about on my blog in the future, please drop into the comments.

Maria x