Pacing a Thriller

I’ve been reading a ton of writing blogs lately and I’m a little worried. I see a lot of discussion concerning the pacing of thrillers. Evidently the pacing is what sets thrillers apart from other genres. The problem is, I’m not exactly sure I understand the difference. More action? More dialogue? More dead bodies? What makes a thriller a thriller? And since I’m now writing thrillers, shouldn’t I already know this?

So for the past few weeks, I’ve been relentlessly rewriting the first few chapters of my book to ‘thriller’ it up. I’m ruthlessly cutting descriptive passages, hacking away at the dialogue and obsessively moving around scenes. I think, maybe, I’m carrying it to the extreme because what I may be losing in a faster pace is a richness of detail, an evocative atmosphere and my own unique way of telling a story.