9 Tips on How to Write Page-Turning Excitement
You love to write and you want to write well.
We want our reader to gobble up every page and to always be wondering “what’s next?!”
But how do we know we are writing in such a way that our story will become a coveted “Page Turner?”
How do we know that when our reader talks about our story they’ll say “Oh! I read that! I couldn’t put it down!”
“Couldn’t put it down…” We long to hear those words about our stories that we have mulled over and lived through.
We won’t know for sure until it is in their hands and under their eyes, but there are some writing techniques that can help us write page turners.
Make your reader worry by adding suspense
Suspense is a pivotal skill in creating a page-turner.
Suspense helps the reader feel like something bad is about to happen so they must know what will happen next because it could be a good or bad outcome for the characters involved.
Create suspense by creating a time sensitive event
A time sensitive event could be big or small.
For example, “We need to figure out the code in 60 seconds or the alarm will sound!”
That is a small amount of time and maybe a minor event but it still creates a moment of suspense for your reader.
It creates a moment where they are thinking and feeling, “What is going to happen next?”
Another example, “if we don’t stop him from reaching his destination, he will release the virus on London.”
“How much time do we have?“- classic suspense question
“He’s already on his way. We only have 16 Hours.“
This scenario has more time and more people are at stake but still creates time sensitive suspense.
In order to create real suspense in our reader’s mind the stakes have to be high.
Always make it that characters that the reader cares about will lose big time if they don’t accomplish their goal.
The what if
You can call this the “what if.”
You want your reader to feel the what if:
– “What if they don’t get there in time?!”
– “What if they release the virus?!”
– “What if the bomb goes off?!”
– “What if the alarm goes off?!”
If we can create questions like this in our readers minds, then we are doing our job as writers that create suspense.
Create question marks that you are ABSOLUTELY going to answer at some point
Let’s say we are with Bruce Wayne (Batman, for those living in non comic inhabited caves) and Bruce is with Alfred strolling through his collection of gadgets and he picks up a grenade that is implanted in the core of a real apple.
He says, “Alfred, how did this apple get down there?”
He goes to take a bite.
Alfred stops his hand.
“That’s not an apple sir. That’s a bomb. The apple core is infused with C4 and the detonator is specifically vibration sensitive to it being bitten. After you take a bite you have 15 second to place it before it detonates.”
“Hmmm, they say an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but in this instance I guess not.”
Now as a reader I’m not assuming this interaction was just to create a silly pun.
I want to see Batman use this apple bomb somewhere, somehow.
As a writer when you bring up a specific item you should be bringing it up for a reason.
Don’t tell your reader how your are going to use it yet.
Make it a “Question mark moment.”
Leave your reader wondering”how is Batman going to use that and when?”
Questions like these (and you should have many of them throughout your story) will give your reader a reason to keep reading.
They will want to pick the book up again after taking a break.
Revisit questions to add to the payoff
In your story you might mention a particular side Character.
They may bump shoulders with your character at the train.
Then later they see them at a coffee shop.
They see them again at a party and exchange words.
At this point you’ve created curiosity in your reader’s mind, “who is this character and why do they keep popping up.”
Now, depending on the genre of your story this could be a new budding romance or a deranged serial killer.
Only you can tell.
9 Tips on How to Write Page-Turning Excitement
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But the more you bring up this person the more your reader will be waiting and longing for you to share why they are there.
We can do this with objects too.
In chapter one Bruce almost bit the apple.
In chapter 3 Robin could be riding in the cockpit and say, “Bruce I’m starving. Did Alfred put anything in here to eat?”
“Yeah” Wayne says, “check the black bag behind your seat.”
There are two black bags behind Robin’s seat. In one he sees a shiny red apple. He grabs it and pulls it to his face. He looks it over and goes in for a bite.
Bruce puts his hand in front of his mouth. “I said the black bag.”
“I did get it out of the black bag!”
“Let me see.”
Robin pulls up the black bag. Bruce looks into it. “Not that one. That’s not an apple.”
“Not an apple?! Well what is it then?”
“It’s a bomb.”
“Oh…” Robin gently puts it back into the bag and sets it slowly behind his seat.
They’re both silent for a moment.
“I’m beginning to think bombs and fruit don’t go well together.”
Again a comic relief moment but not the one, as a reader, that we’re anticipating.
We’ve seen the apple bomb twice now. And both times it almost kills our heroes but we have yet to see it used strategically by Batman (the hero of unbelievable gadgets) in a way that satisfies our gadget lust.
Having multiple moments surrounding an object or person can create more curiosity and thus bigger payoff when things are finally revealed.
Have multiple hooks working for you
In our stories it is necessary to create suspense and curiosity in almost every scene.
We can’t just say, “if the bad guy wins then the world dies,” and expect our reader to be engaged for the entire story without adding additional “hooks” (suspense and curiosity).
Create curiosity and suspense in every scene (well almost every scene)
Most stories have the long question: “Will our heroine beat the bad guy?”
“Will he find true love?”
“Will he solve the murder?”
“Will they survive?”
But along the way we as writers need to create many small questions to be answered too.
“Will she survive the booby trap?”
“Will they get over this argument?”
“Will they survive the affair?”
“Will she lose her business?”
“Will he get fired?”
Smaller questions help lead the reader to answering the Big question.
Bad stuff happens in real life, allow bad stuff to happen to characters
If we want our reader to keep page turning we need to teach them that the threat our character is facing is actually a threat.
How do we teach them that the threat is real?
By allowing bad stuff to happen sometimes.
If nothing bad ever actually happens to our characters we will inevitably teach our reader the wrong lesson: nothing bad ever happens to character therefore I don’t need to be worried about this problem they’re facing. They’ll be fine.
At this point, we’ve almost lost them.
They’ll surely be losing interest soon.
So instead teach them that the problems are real and worth being concerned about by letting bad things happen.
Use other page-turners
A great practice is to think of page-turners you’ve read.
Think of books you just couldn’t put down.
What did the author do that made you want to keep going and never put the book down?
Learn to read books and consume TV and movies critically in order to use the same techniques they used to keep you hooked for every juicy page.
Hope this helps!
Happy writing!
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9 Tips on How to Write Page-Turning Excitement
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