Thriller protagonists battle life and death.
Mapping their internal struggles and the psychological journey they must traverse throughout the three-act structure, in addition to and alongside their quest to secure an external goal, is another tool writers can utilise to guide and deepen plot.
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (d. 24 August 2004), was a Swiss American psychiatrist and pioneer in near-death studies. Her book, On Death and Dying, theorised there were five stages to grief.
These become one very useful tool to map the thriller lead’s internal arc.
In the first act, or beginning of the story, the protagonist’s equilibrium is thrown out of balance by a significant threat which, by the end of the act, they are unable to ignore. Despite the necessity for them to step up to the plate, there is often an initial reluctance to fully engage. The first stage of grief, DENIAL, fits perfectly.
The lengthy middle of the story, the second act, has to accomplish many complex stages of the story journey, mainly the protagonist’s increasingly desperate attempts to restore that upended equilibrium. However, life gets very much worse before it gets better. There is an essential moment where the lead will reach a place of utter despair. In the second act, Kübler-Ross’ next three stages can be employed to guide their inner psychology: ANGER, BARGAINING, DEPRESSION.
The third act concludes the story and, while life may return to normal in terms of a threat that has been neutralised, the protagonist’s character has evolved in some way. This resolution can be seen as a move toward ACCEPTANCE.
External physical goals may be all that is required of regular genre fiction, but great thrillers go much deeper. Kübler-Ross has gifted us with one extremely useful tool to develop a sense of authenticity in the thriller protagonist’s internal psychological journey.