5 Bestselling Storytelling Lessons From Jackie Collins

Discover five bestselling storytelling lessons from Jackie Collins and learn what made her novels so popular with millions of readers around the world.

Jackie Collins was an English novelist who was born on 4 October 1937 and died on 19 September 2015. Her books sold more than 500 million copies in over 40 countries, and she had 32 New York Times bestsellers. Her novels included Hollywood Wives, The World is Full of Married Men, Sinners, Lovers & Gamblers, Lady Boss, and The Power Trip. Several of her books were adapted for film and television.

I think millions of fans were shocked by the sudden passing of Hollywood novelist Jackie Collins, a writer hailed as both a ‘raunchy moralist’ and ‘Hollywood’s own Marcel Proust’.

While I was devastated, the first thing I did was start re-reading some of my favourite titles by this bestselling author. I realised I’d learned so many page-turning storytelling secrets from her over the last 20 years that I thought I’d share them in this blog post.

5 Bestselling Storytelling Lessons From Jackie Collins

1. Keep The Lovers Apart

Sinners. Jackie creates a fascinating love story by keeping the main characters apart as love interests for most of the story. Just when it looks like they might get together, fate and other lovers get in the way — until they’re united in confronting a deadly stalker. This creates sustained tension throughout the whole narrative and keeps you turning the pages. Lesson: Keep the lovers apart for as long as possible.

2. Bring In The Unexpected Twist

Lovers & Gamblers. In this epic novel, Jackie exposes the seedy world of celebrity in Las Vegas and Hollywood. Then, in a dramatic chain break she has a private plane crash in the Amazon, forcing her main characters to fight for survival in a different kind of jungle. Lesson: Bring in a dramatic and unexpected twist for a spectacular conclusion.

3. Hide Your Antagonist

Hollywood Husbands. In this glitzy saga, Jackie introduces a dangerous antagonist early on in the story — a nameless young girl who takes revenge on her tormentors by starting deadly fires. The reader knows she’s grown up to be a powerful young woman in Hollywood’s fashionable circles, but she could be one of five or six characters. Lesson: Hide the antagonist’s identity until the very end of the story for nail-biting tension.

4. Use A Braided Storyline

Lady Boss. In her famous Santangelo series, Jackie has Lucky Santangelo take over a studio while dealing with the destinies of powerful characters around her. This is where Jackie excelled in most of her novels — in telling multi-cast storylines in much the way soap operas or telenovelas do on television. The reader becomes immersed in the fictional lives of the characters and lives every emotion with them. Lesson: A braided storyline creates emotional impact and will support a story with multiple characters.

5. Trap Your Characters

The Power Trip. Jackie assembles a small group of celebrities on a Russian billionaire’s new yacht for a maiden voyage. As they sail through the Sea of Cortez, old tensions  and secrets flare and lusty new romances blossom, all while a group of pirates plan to seize the boat and hold it hostage. Lesson: A contained thriller is a great way to create tension and conflict in a story— because there is no escape for the characters.

In all her books, Jackie wasn’t afraid of big stories. Sometimes she went over the top, but you were willing to follow her simply because she wrote such compelling, idiosyncratic, outrageous characters. She also created some truly creepy villains — like the perverted Herbert Lincoln Jefferson in Sinners or Deke the evil twin in Hollywood Wives. She understood the value of a strong, wily antagonist in her novels.

I guess what I learned from Jackie Collins — and perhaps the most important lesson — is to treat your writing like a fearless adventure and to have fun with the story.

The Last Word

Jackie Collins understood that storytelling should be bold, entertaining, and impossible to put down. Her novels remind us that tension comes from keeping characters apart, putting them in danger, and giving readers reasons to keep guessing. Most of all, she shows us that writers should take risks, create larger-than-life characters, and have fun with their stories.

Source for Image: Author’s Website