From Cold Email to Chart-Topping Thrillers: What Writers Can Learn from Shari Lapena
Nine years ago, Shari Lapena sent a cold email to a literary agent. That note turned into The Couple Next Door, an international hit that shifted her life from English teacher and lawyer to full-time bestselling author near Toronto.
She describes the period since as both fast and surreal. The bigger lesson for writers: timing matters, luck plays a role, and the job is to keep moving forward.
Momentum Beats Nostalgia
Lapena doesn't dwell on what-ifs. She's glad she started when she did, even if part of her wonders about starting earlier. The takeaway: publish when the idea is sharp and the timing feels right. Obsessing over the past doesn't ship pages.
Writing as Escape-With Reality at the Edges
She calls writing her happy place. But she lets real-world tensions bleed into story when useful-like a psychologist character noting how fast the "veneer of civilization" can slip.
For writers: keep your work entertaining first. Let the world inform tone and stakes without turning your book into a lecture.
True-Crime Forums: Fuel and Fire
Lapena isn't a forum lurker, but she researched them for her latest book. She sees both sides: sometimes they crowdsource insight and sometimes they wreck lives with baseless accusations.
Anonymous spaces reveal what people are like when no one's watching. If you write crime, that dynamic is a goldmine for character and plot.
AI Anxiety Is Real-Here's a Practical Stance
She's concerned about AI scraping her work and wants stricter controls, especially in the arts. She doesn't think a model can fully replicate her voice yet-but if it could, that's a threat.
For working writers: protect your drafts, read your contracts, and be clear about AI usage policies with partners. Use tools only where they help your process without diluting your voice.
If you want a practical overview of how to use AI responsibly without losing your style, explore this resource: ChatGPT guides for creators.
Idea Generation: Mine the News, Then Twist It
Her novel She Didn't See It Coming began with the question, "How does someone vanish from a building that should be safe?" The spark came from the Elisa Lam case at the Cecil Hotel-a sad, baffling story where a missing person was ultimately found inside the building.
Her move: extract the core tension (vanish-without-a-trace), transpose the setting (condo tower), then push the mystery until it snaps. That's a repeatable framework.
The Market Loves Darker Crime Right Now
Reader appetite is shifting. Lapena says fans want darker stories and more psychopaths, and she's moving from domestic suspense into broader crime.
Practical use: turn the dial on stakes and moral ambiguity. Give readers a reason to turn pages at midnight-surprising motives, layered suspects, and pressure that doesn't let up.
Fandom, Feedback, and Protecting Your Process
Bookstagram and reader communities amplify word of mouth. Lapena sees more feedback than ever, but she doesn't let it steer her first draft.
She's considering her first sequel with detective Jayne Salter, but only because the character still has unfinished business. That's a healthy filter: write sequels when the story insists, not because comments ask for one.
Playbook for Working Writers
- Send the email. Query widely. Momentum beats perfect timing.
- Let reality tint your fiction, but keep the story the priority.
- Use online communities as research for behavior, not truth.
- Guard your voice in the AI era: set boundaries and read the fine print.
- Steal the tension, not the details: relocate, reframe, and escalate.
- Lean into darkness if your readers crave it-just make it human.
- Listen to fans after you draft. During the draft, follow the story.
Where She Is Now
Nearly a decade on, Lapena is still at the top of a crowded shelf. She Didn't See It Coming opened at No. 1 in Canada and the U.S., and she's exploring a return for detective Jayne Salter.
Her process is simple: wait for the one idea that won't let go, then jump in. Everything else is noise.
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