By Michelle Griep, @MichelleGriep
Everyone wants to be that author—the one readers are clamoring to read. How does that happen, though? How do you become that author, with tribes of loyal natives willing to trek barefoot through jungles to buy your next book?
Easy. Write a page turner and they’ll come back for more.
Okay, so maybe it’s not that easy. Penning a riveting story is hard work, but there are a few key ingredients you can bake into your story to make the outcome more tantalizing to a reader.
Escalation
Do This: Intensify the story stakes.
Not That: Make life too easy for your characters.
You’ve got to torture your characters. Your hero has to go from sweet-mercy, to dang-it, to oh-my-freaking-stars-I’m-going-to-die. Think of your story as a journey, uphill, both ways, with the climax at the tippy top. Your characters have to work hard to overcome struggles in order to gain the reader’s respect, and those struggles need to be something more intense than a chipped nail.
Cliffhangers
Do This: End every scene with a gasp.
Not That: Make it easy for a reader to put down the book.
Don’t just dangle a readerly carrot at the end of each scene. Dangle a piece of turtle cheesecake. You always want to end a scene or a chapter with a huge unanswered question, that way your reader just has to flip the page and find out the answer.
Secrets
Do This: Have your characters hold on to secrets.
Not That: Make your characters blab everything up front.
Everyone loves a juicy secret. Readers especially. Resist the urge to spill all the beans at the beginning of the story. Dole out background crumbs, hints at what the character has in his past, but don’t do the big reveal until the climax.
And there you have it. Entice your reader by using these 3 tricks and you will be that author.
Even if there be monsters, there is none so fierce as that which resides in man’s own heart. Enchanting Regency-Era Gothic Romance Intertwined with Inspiration from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Michelle Griep’s been writing since she first discovered blank wall space and Crayolas. She is the author of historical romances: The Captured Bride, The Innkeeper’s Daughter, 12 Days at Bleakly Manor, The Captive Heart, Brentwood’s Ward, and A Heart Deceived, but also leaped the historical fence into the realm of contemporary with the zany romantic mystery Out of the Frying Pan. If you’d like to keep up with her escapades, find her at www.michellegriep.com or stalk her on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.