Writing Female-Centric Thrillers: Helping Women Feel Seen in Commercial Crime Fiction

As a female author of commercial thrillers my main aim is for my stories to entertain. Yet it’s also important to me that they’re relatable and an honest reflection of society and the world seen through the eyes of women today. 

So how do you create a story that resonates emotionally with female readers, while keeping them hooked with the high-stakes action they expect from a thriller?

Understanding what it means to be a woman today

The first step in writing an authentic female-centric thriller is to understand and reflect the diverse and complex experiences women face today. This is best achieved if you have lived life as a woman – although it’s not a prerequisite. 

Firstly, it’s essential to ground both the characters and the plot in the realities of women’s lives, whether through our interactions with societal structures, personal relationships, or the specific challenges we face. This doesn’t mean every female character should embody the same traits or confront the same struggles, but there should be an authenticity to a protagonist’s experiences that rings true to many female readers.

The challenges women face in their everyday lives are often determined by gender —navigating power dynamics in the workplace, balancing family and career, hormonal imbalances caused by periods, pregnancy, or menopause, and dealing with personal safety concerns. These real-world issues can form an integral part of a thriller’s plot. 

With my first thriller, Good Girls Die Last, I explored the microaggressions that young women face from men every day. It is far from a man-hating book (I don’t believe that constitutes real feminism), more of a no-holds-barred insight into the psychological pitfalls of womanhood…wrapped up in an against-the-clock thriller.

However, it’s important not to over-emphasize trauma or victimhood in the female protagonist’s journey. Women have historically played the victims in thrillers, and now more of them are playing the villain – yet, when you want to keep your fiction real, most women fall somewhere in between.

A well-crafted thriller for women shouldn’t dwell solely on a character’s struggles but should also allow space for growth, empowerment, and action. Thrillers are often about overcoming obstacles, and a woman who triumphs over adversity, regardless of the hurdles she faces, provides a more compelling narrative – as well as a character female readers want to get behind.

Complex Female Characters

Thrillers often feature protagonists who confront danger head-on. In writing for women, this is an opportunity to create female characters who are brave and resourceful in many different ways (not just as action figures). The key to writing female-centric thrillers is to show women as whole people, not just as action figures or victims. They can be fierce and vulnerable, confident and uncertain, but they should always feel real and fully realised. Readers will connect more deeply with characters who are multi-dimensional, flawed, and capable of growth.

For example, in my latest thriller While My Baby Sleeps, Lu is silently battling with postpartum sleep deprivation, scared of admitting the extent of her struggles for fear of being deemed a bad mother. She does everything she can to care for her baby, losing herself in the process and leading to such confusion and memory loss she’s not sure if she’s killed someone!

As extreme as that example is, this experience is one I personally encountered when my children were babies (minus the murder, of course). Being able to combine the high-stakes of a thriller with a very real, female-centric predicament, has resulted in a lot of interest from readers desperate to share their own stories. A raw female-centric scenario threaded through a high-stakes thriller plot is an opportunity to make women feel seen while remaining entertaining and commercially relevant. 

Keeping the Suspense

While reflecting women’s experiences is crucial, a thriller must also keep readers on the edge of their seats. The primary goal of a thriller is suspense, and to achieve this, the plot must be dynamic and filled with tension, danger, and mystery.

A female-centric thriller works best when the threat is not just external but also connected to the protagonist’s internal struggles. In My Daughter’s Revenge I wanted to focus on the juxtaposition of a mother in her late forties feeling invisible while her seventeen-year-old daughter discovers her own sexual power – leading to the death of a man that neither of them should have had anything to do with!

Focussing on family, relationships, aging, motherhood, and the various milestones women face throughout their lives enables a writer to connect personally with their female audience (while highlighting various points of views that male readers may not have considered).

Emotional Engagement

One of the most important elements of writing a thriller for women is creating an emotional connection between the reader and the protagonist. A good thriller makes readers feel the protagonist’s fear, anxiety, determination, and triumph. The suspense in these stories isn’t just about action; it’s about the emotional stakes—the consequences of the protagonist’s decisions and what’s at risk for her personally.

In Good Girls Die Last we see Em battling her away across London during a heatwave…while a serial killer is on the loose. Yet it’s the everyday struggles that finally tip her over the edge. While few women will relate with the idea of living in the shadow of a killer, most women can empathise with a character who has to walk a long distance in heels while men keep making her feel unsafe and uncomfortable. That internal tension, combined with the external threat, is what keeps the readers turning the pages.

In conclusion, writing a thriller that speaks to women requires a deep understanding of both gender and genre. As a female writer wanting to represent women honestly, you need to be brave and vulnerable enough to let readers peek behind the curtain of womanhood. Even if those real experiences don’t sit comfortably with how society prefers to portray us.

Thrillers don’t have to just be about danger—they can also be about survival, growth, and empowerment. When done well, a thriller for women can provide not only the thrills readers crave but also a rich, resonant experience that speaks to their lives and experiences. A story that matters.

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Natali Simmonds is a multi-genre fiction author and storytelling brand consultant, best known for her domestic suspense and thriller novels. Her debut, Good Girls Die Last, is being adapted for TV by STV, and the last book of her fantasy trilogy, Children of Shadows, was shortlisted for the 2022 RNA Fantasy Award. As a consultant Natali works with various creative and entertainment brands, has her own column in Kings College London’s Inspire The Mind magazine, lectures at London’s Raindance Film School, and she co-writes paranormal romance as Caedis Knight. Originally from London, she now divides her time between the UK, Spain, and the Netherlands.

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I have to stay awake… I need to keep him safe.

I haven’t slept properly since Riley was born. I love my baby so much – every noise he makes and every sleepy blink has me rushing to his side to make sure he’s safe.

Yet the lack of sleep is getting to me. There are terrifying blanks in my memory, and my temper is blindingly short. I can’t rely on my partner – I don’t even know where he is half the time. But at least I have Maggie next door. She tells me this is just what new motherhood is like, so I have no choice but to ignore the blackout rages and blurred vision, for Riley’s sake…

But after another night of no sleep, the last thing I expect is a police officer at my door. My neighbour has been found dead. The man I’ve been furious at for weeks for keeping me and the baby awake with his late-night parties.

Though really, maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised… Because this morning, I woke up on my doorstep. And I have no memory of what happened – or where the blood on my hands came from.

As I hear Riley start to cry, I swallow against the rising panic in my throat. It can’t have been me. I’m no killer, I’m just a sleep-deprived, loving mother… aren’t I?

An absolutely unputdownable, addictive suspense thriller with a jaw-dropping twist. Perfect for fans of gripping page-turners like The Housemaid, The Family Across the Street and The Family Upstairs.

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Category: Contemporary Women Writers