Best-selling author Stacy Willingham explores the psychology of suspense at SIBF 2025
You can’t edit what doesn’t exist.” It’s a simple line, but it captures the philosophy of internationally acclaimed thriller writer Stacy Willingham, who drew a full house at the Thrillerfest session of the 44th Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF 2025).
Stacy Willingham at SIBF 2025
The New York Times bestselling author of A Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous Things took her audience deep into the psychology of suspense, unpacking how trauma, trust, and fear intertwine to shape both her characters and her readers’ emotions.
“My protagonist, Chloe, is the daughter of a serial killer,” Willingham told the crowd. “I kept asking myself — if that were your childhood, how would you see the world as an adult? You’d probably struggle with paranoia, you wouldn’t trust others, or even yourself. So I made her a psychologist who helps troubled kids — because she once was one.”
Her novels, she explained, are not only psychological thrillers but also emotional landscapes. “I set A Flicker in the Dark in the swamps of Louisiana because that place feels alive with hidden danger,” she said. “You can’t see what’s underneath until it’s too late. That’s exactly what Chloe’s life feels like — calm on the surface, chaos underneath.”
Truth beneath fiction
For Willingham, the most gripping fiction often begins with a grain of truth. Her second novel, All the Dangerous Things, was sparked by a Washington Post article about a man who, decades after his sister’s murder, still attended true-crime conferences to tell her story.
“He relived his trauma over and over because he believed it might help solve the case,” she recalled. “That kind of desperate persistence — that refusal to let go — is what makes a story feel alive.”
“Read critically — like a writer”
Willingham also offered candid advice to young writers and students in the audience. Perfectionism, she warned, is creativity’s worst enemy.
“Writers are bombarded with ideas — I have ten in my phone right now,” she said, laughing. “But once you pick one, stick with it. Finish the draft, even if it’s bad. The magic happens when you start rewriting.”
A graduate of several writing programs, Willingham encouraged new authors to read critically, not just for pleasure.
“Ask why the author wrote a sentence that way. Why they misled you, or how they built tension,” she explained. “Even now, five books in, my early drafts are terrible — but that’s part of the process. Reading with a critical eye makes you better.”
The author joined fellow thriller writer Jennifer Hillier for the session “Where Trauma Lives: Grief, Death and Anxiety in Thriller Writing”, exploring how loss and human fragility continue to shape the modern thriller genre.
Willingham’s appearance at SIBF 2025 was both a masterclass in writing and a reminder that behind every chilling mystery lies a deeply human story — one shaped by fear, empathy, and the need to understand ourselves.