There needs to be an element of safety and normality to any good story—you can only truly catch your readers off-guard by making them feel safe, by letting them think they know exactly which way the story is heading, and THEN throwing something unnerving at them that will really make them gasp
Humans... have basic cravings. If you can speak to these cravings, you’ll win a reader for 300 pages... what are some game-like qualities writers can apply to their manuscripts to make them more addictive?
Clear goals. Characters are always in pursuit of something...
Cause and effect. Characters’ actions have consequences. Always.
Obstacles and rewards. Obstacles speak for themselves. But rewards are just as important. Finding a tool, weapon, magical object, or guide adds excitement and gives readers an emotional boost... even a contemporary novel can use them, although they’ll come in a different form.
The right level of difficulty... keep the challenges coming at the very edge of your character’s ability to deal with them.
A conflict-rich environment... think of games: if you land on the black square, you get bounced back six spaces. If you jump on the yellow crate, you accidentally release a monster. The setting dispenses dangers and rewards at every turn.
the beginning is... the emotionally engaging originating event. The middle is the natural and causally related consequence, and the end is the inevitable conclusive event.
When a{n important} character dies, it should... profoundly affect... the other characters in the story. Cities have been razed and nations overthrown to avenge the loss of a loved one
where each book is meant to stand on its own as a self-contained adventure... focus on the essentials - they {readers} don’t need to know everything that happened in the last book, only what actually impacts... this book
As a writer I can show the audience one thing at a time... so the order in which I show them becomes very important.
By choosing the items {I show} I am telling my audience what the character is thinking about.
Building up to a big bad something?
Try using foreboding: build tension by dropping hints that not all is well (what are the symptoms of your big bad?) and allow your characters to worry just a little tiny bit.
Consider heightening the emotional build-up by combining the big bad suspense arc with that of something your character is anticipating.
is... your first line... A distinctive, specific first line that can only be the first line to your book and no other?
