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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/40756
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/40756
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

### Yes, the goal is to make them want to read the whole novel at a sitting.

You may be tiring because you are reading analytically to find words to smith, and because you already know the story and how each scene turns out.

What makes a story a page-turner is the reader wants to know **_what happens next,_** literally in the next page or two, and **constantly**.

So reading another page or two seems like a small investment of their time, and they do it for the payoff, especially if your writing has been delivering on this pattern since early in the book. It isn't enough to just have a "plot advancement", it must be an advancement that the reader **has been waiting for.**

So as a reader, I come to the end of some page, and I have to decide if I am going to bed. Now as an author you don't have complete control of where the pages end (save chapter breaks), but say my page ends with character A telling character B what her plan of attack is going to be. Okay, I can go to bed, and pick this up tomorrow.

But say instead my page ends in the middle of a disagreement between character A and character B. I want to see how this micro-drama turns out, so I **turn the page** , because how long is that going to take?

So the best compliment I have received on a book from a beta reader is "I read it cover to cover, in one sitting."

In contrast, the feedback I have on my most recently "completed" work (different beta reader) is "I can't wait to see how it turns out, but the pace is killing me [too slow]." So, I am likely not _completely_ completed. The tension is there, I don't think I need to cut any **story** elements, but I'm not delivering on it quickly enough. That means I probably need to be more ruthless with some of my darlings, some exposition or unnecessary dialogue or side-character descriptions.

Without creating more work for you, I think you already know how every scene turns out. At the end of every "resolution" (perhaps what you call a plot advancement), ask yourself, **Why does the reader want/need to start the next scene?**

You have resolved one unknown, something else needs to take its place; how have you primed them so they really want to see what is next? Solving "A" means you can now solve "B", or whatever. You can have short, medium and long term outstanding tensions, removing one should create another or increase the tension on something outstanding.

If you are switching characters and have finished the chapter on Barb, and it is time for the chapter from Charlie's POV, I hope you left her in trouble: That can also be the reason to turn the page.

On revision, part of the job, even in a solid story, is to figure out how to remind the reader of things they will want to see resolved. They don't have to be game changers, but what they want to know next is what pulls them through the story and keeps them turning pages.

Original score: 1