How to Write a Psychological Thriller with Brian Finney

An episode of the Become a Writer Today podcast, hosted by Bryan Collins, titled "How to Write a Psychological Thriller with Brian Finney" was published on October 18, 2021 and runs 25 minutes.

October 18, 2021 ·25m · Become a Writer Today

0:00 / 0:00

Summary

In this episode, I catch up with Brian Finney to understand how he transitioned from writing non-fiction to writing fiction and how he manages his day. Many writers work on the side while working a demanding day job. Brian has gone the other way. He’s now a professor emeritus at California State University, which means he doesn’t lecture at the university, so he has time to write his psychological thrillers during the week. I was interested in how somebody would approach having a massive ...

Episode Description

In this episode, I catch up with Brian Finney to understand how he transitioned from writing non-fiction to writing fiction and how he manages his day.

Many writers work on the side while working a demanding day job. Brian has gone the other way. He’s now a professor emeritus at California State University, which means he doesn’t lecture at the university, so he has time to write his psychological thrillers during the week.

I was interested in how somebody would approach having a massive chunk of free time to write. I dug into Brian’s writing process to figure out how much time he spends writing and how he gets himself into a state of flow.

In this episode, we discuss:

Brian's writing process
Current events and conspiracy theories that drive Brian's stories
Writing tools
Reactions from Brian's former students
How Brian promotes his books
Advice on finding time to write
Techniques and strategies for getting into the flow

Resources:

Support the show

If you enjoyed the show please leave a review on Apple. And if you have any questions you can find me on Twitter @BryanJCollins

Thanks for listening!

Share this episode

Similar Episodes

Season Two (A Teaser Episode)

Jan 21, 2026 ·6m

Jan 2, 2026 ·49m

01 – What! No Children?

Jan 2, 2026 ·2m

Jan 1, 2026 ·15m

02 – Won’t I, Just?

Jan 1, 2026 ·4m

Dec 31, 2025 ·57m

Similar Podcasts

The Novel Analyst Podcast: Creative Writing Advice & Author Interviews Jed Herne Fantasy author Jed Herne analyses his favourite stories to help you become a better writer. Jed is the author of The Thunder Heist, Fires of the Dead, Across the Broken Stars, and Siege of Treboulain. He also hosts Wizards, Warriors, & Words: A Fantasy Writing Advice podcast. Find out more about Jed on his website: www.jedherne.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Determination, Deliberation, and Dragons Peter Markotsis & Isabella Perez On Determination, Deliberation, and Dragons, Izzy (she/her) and Peter (they/them) chat about creative writing while workshopping stories of our own. Our goal is to become better writers, and to share some of our insights along the way. Each episode, we'll discuss all the ingredients that go into writing a great story from setting and characters to, of course, the apocalypse! There's really not one "right" way to become a great writer, but hopefully this podcast will be a way for us (and maybe for you too!) to get a little better practicing and thinking about writing, and generally just having a good time together. So if you're someone who really likes creative writing, enjoys reading late into the night, or wants to hear our thoughts on the best dragon (spoiler alert: every dragon is the best), then join us on our writing quest! Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https:/ My Dream Seth Goldbach My podcast is just to tell everyone that I want to be a writer and that's my dream to become one of the best but I have a lot of mental issues and I'm still following my dreams and not letting nothing hold me back English: Personal Experiences - for iPad/Mac/PC The Open University How has the English language influenced your life? How would you define your relationship with English? In this collection these questions are explored by Poet Benjamin Zephaniah, writer Sindiwe Magona, and author Jung Chang amongst others. They discuss the impact of the language; and describe the part English has played in their life. For many of us the language can broaden experiences and opportunities, for others it can create obstacles and become a hindrance. How often do you change they way you speak to adapt to different environments or accommodate other peoples assumptions? Can we get an insight into who people are by how the use grammar and pronounce words? In a series of conversations we’re given access to the varying perspectives on the English language from a range of personal experiences.This material forms part of The Open University course U214 Worlds of English.

URL copied to clipboard!