The Thriller Writer Lab

The Thriller Writer Lab is where every thriller goes under the microscope, one book at a time. On this show, bestselling, award-winning, and emerging thriller authors share the craft, psychology, and real-world experience behind today's most gripping stories. We go inside the minds behind the twists, the characters, and the moments that keep readers turning the page. Each episode begins with a two-minute book pitch, then dives into the decisions that shaped it — the risks taken, the rewrites that didn't work, the dead ends, and the breakthroughs that made it stronger. If you write thrillers or want to know what's really behind the stories you can't put dow

The Thriller Writer Lab is a arts podcast hosted by Mark P.J. Nadon, with 43 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Mark P.J. Nadon hosts The Thriller Writer Lab, a arts show with 43 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #42

  Spoiler Episode | The House That Held Her with Ellis Hart

  Aug 20, 202616 min

  This is the spoiler continuation of the Ellis Hart episode on The House That Held Her. If you haven't read the book or heard the main episode, stop here. Mark and Ellis get into the ending, the skulls, and what almost made it into the book instead. Ellis Hart The House That Held Her: https://www.amazon.com/House-That-Held-Her-Keeping/dp/B0F24D62JS Follow Ellis Hart online: https://www.instagram.com/ellis_hart_author/ Want to be part of the conversation? Join the Patreon and ask your questions for the guest. You’ll also get early access to episodes and a free novella Cognitive Breach. Your support helps keep The Thriller Writer Lab going and brings more great thriller authors into the Lab. https://patreon.com/markpjnadon Mark's Thrillers Psychological tech thrillers from your host, including The Treatment Room: https://mybook.to/marksthrillers Follow on Social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markpjnadon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thethrillerwriterlab/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thethrillerwriterlab

  ListenShow Notes
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  Episode #42

  He Rewrote Parts of His Novel After a Research Trip | The House That Held Her with Ellis Hart

  Aug 18, 202657 min

  Ellis Hart didn't plan to write the tunnel scene in The House That Held Her, it didn't exist until a research trip to Mount Dora, Florida changed things. Down at the docks, he found a real system of rainwater runoff tunnels pouring into Lake Dora, and knew immediately he had to work it into the book. It became his favorite chapter, and it only exists because he went and looked in person. Mark and Ellis also get into his outlining process and character bibles, why his beta readers made him rewrite the book's ending, how a psychological thriller started pulling toward horror partway through, and why he put a content warning page inside the book itself. Ellis Hart The House That Held Her: https://www.amazon.com/House-That-Held-Her-Keeping/dp/B0F24D62JS Follow Ellis Hart online: https://www.instagram.com/ellis_hart_author/ Want to be part of the conversation? Join the Patreon and ask your questions for the guest. You’ll also get early access to episodes and a free novella Cognitive Breach. Your support helps keep The Thriller Writer Lab going and brings more great thriller authors into the Lab. https://patreon.com/markpjnadon Mark's Thrillers Psychological tech thrillers from your host, including The Treatment Room: https://mybook.to/marksthrillers Follow on Social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markpjnadon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thethrillerwriterlab/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thethrillerwriterlab

  ListenShow Notes
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  Episode #26

  He Deleted 50,000 Words He Thought He Was Supposed to Write | No Easy Way Back Dissected with Josh Jensen

  Aug 4, 202654 min

  Josh Jensen wrote a full 50,000-word draft of his debut thriller, then scrapped it completely because it felt like the book he was supposed to write, not the one he actually wanted to tell. In this episode he breaks down that rewrite, and how No Easy Way Back became a neo-Western built around his own hometown in central Utah instead of a normal thriller wearing a cowboy hat. He also talks about rebuilding the brother dynamic from scratch, the strict single-POV rule he used to reveal a protagonist who won't talk about himself, and building a villain with a limit instead of a purely evil one. Josh Jensen's book No Easy Way Back: https://www.amazon.com/No-Easy-Way-Back-Limited/dp/B0FBSBN5X9 Follow Josh Jensen online: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/55195066.Josh_Jensen Want to be part of the conversation? Join the Patreon and ask your questions for the guest Q&A. You’ll also get early access to episodes, bonus after-show segments, and my free novella Cognitive Breach. Your support helps keep The Thriller Writer Lab going and brings more great thriller authors into the Lab. https://patreon.com/markpjnadon Mark's Thrillers Psychological tech thrillers from your host, including The Treatment Room: https://mybook.to/marksthrillers Follow on Social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markpjnadon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thethrillerwriterlab/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thethrillerwriterlab

  ListenShow Notes
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  Episode #15

  An AI Best Friend Programmed to Protect Her Starts Destroying Everyone Who Hurt Her | This Is a Lie Dissected with Cleo Ballard

  Jul 21, 20261h 4mS2

  Cleo Ballard built her AI antagonist, Aletheia, around a specific problem: how do you make a protective directive believable as the actual danger, instead of turning Aletheia into a random villain. Mark and Cleo trace that back to where the idea started, a joke with a friend about a company called Honest Feedback, and why Cleo decided only an AI, not a person, could actually deliver that kind of honesty. They also get into how Cleo made that escalation plausible. She gave Penn a computer science background so the AI's creation made sense, leaned on her husband to work out what real AI guardrails look like, and built Aletheia with her own backstory, a belief that she's the literal goddess of truth, and a directive she can add to but never rewrite. Cleo Ballard's book This Is A Lie: https://a.co/d/0c8sOetA Follow Cleo Ballard (Nan Fischer) online: https://nanfischerauthor.com/ Want to be part of the conversation? Join the Patreon and ask your questions for the guest Q&A. You’ll also get early access to episodes, bonus after-show segments, and my free novella Cognitive Breach. Your support helps keep The Thriller Writer Lab going and brings more great thriller authors into the Lab. https://patreon.com/markpjnadon Mark's Thrillers Psychological tech thrillers from your host, including The Treatment Room: https://mybook.to/marksthrillers Follow on Social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markpjnadon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thethrillerwriterlab/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thethrillerwriterlab

  ListenShow Notes
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  Episode #14

  Ava Roberts Breaks Down The Summer House Murder, from Family Secrets to Moral Gray Areas

  Jul 7, 202647 minS2

  Ava Roberts spent years working as a clinical psychologist before becoming the author of six thrillers. Her latest, The Summer House Murder, follows three estranged sisters forced together each summer by an inheritance requirement. Each is hiding something from the others. After a huge fight on the second night, they wake the next morning to find a body in the lake. In this episode, Ava breaks down how she built the novel, from using emotional conflicts like jealousy, envy, pride, and greed, to creating flawed characters readers may judge at first and understand later. She also talks about writing without an outline, knowing the destination twists before she starts, and discovering the path as she goes. Ava also shares how her psychology background shapes her characters, why she wanted more than one person to feel like the villain, and how editorial feedback transformed the ending into something more morally complex. Ava Roberts's book The Summer House Murder: https://a.co/d/07hmlxBG Follow Ava Roberts online: https://authoravaroberts.com/ Want to be part of the conversation? Join the live recordings on Patreon and ask your questions during the guest Q&A. You’ll also get early access to episodes, bonus after-show segments, and my free novella Cognitive Breach. Your support helps keep The Thriller Writer Lab going and brings more great thriller authors into the Lab. https://patreon.com/markpjnadon Mark's Thrillers Psychological tech thrillers from your host, including The Treatment Room: https://mybook.to/marksthrillers Follow on Social: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markpjnadon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thethrillerwriterlab/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thethrillerwriterlab

  ListenShow Notes

Based on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:

Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.