The Art of Writing: How to Write Bestselling Novels

Creating a Page-Turner

(NOTE: I try to keep these chapters short for Wattpad and simplicity's sake, but this one's a little long. However, it's well worth it because this is an incredibly-important skill.)

Ever wonder what it is about a book that causes you to not be able to put it down? Well, we're about to explore exactly that.

So, what do you believe it is that keeps people reading? Answer that questions before you continue. Just take a guess. Doesn't matter if you're right or wrong. All that matters here is for you to get a gauge on how well you understand what you're doing as a writer. So, what's your answer?

No! Stop! DO NOT READ past this point until you answer that question!

How about now? No? It's important you answer, because you need to see how well you think you know how to write and create compelling stories. If you get the answer wrong, that's good! It tells you something about yourself, and it tells you a skill you definitely need to learn.

Okay, have you FINALLY answered it? Honestly? ...Alright...then we'll continue.

WHAT KEEPS PEOPLE READING

There are lots of little things that can cause a person to keep turning the page, but there's one single word that sums it all up nicely--tension. It's all about tension. And if you don't know how to create that in a story, you aren't going to keep your readers reading.

To create tension, all you need to do is create questions about the things the characters care about and the readers care about, but there has to be obstacles in the way. If you can create mystery that matters to the characters and readers, you'll keep them reading.

You'd think people wouldn't want to be tense, right? Reading is a leisure activity, after all. So why do they want tension and why does it keep them reading? The answer is simple: pleasure. What makes pleasure so pleasurable is that it's a release of tension. And the more tension you build, the more pleasure you experience.

This concept is extremely important to understand. This skill is invaluable and must be mastered if you're going to write like a best-selling author.

You don't just build tension, you keep building it. But before you build tension, your readers need to relate to your character. So you have to show something about your character that causes the reader to relate to him or her. Once they relate to your character, they'll be more likely to care about what the character cares about and want to join the character on an adventure.

RELATING, CONNECTING, AND EMPATHY

In my book, Winter's Edge, the prologue shows Ian Sharp when he was five years old. His dad's always too busy with work to play with him and has dismissed his attempts to play several times in the past. Ian hopes this day will be different...and he's right, but in a very unexpected way. Ian's father promised he'd build a model airplane with him, but when Ian asks, his father blows him off once again. Ian is incredibly angry. For years, he's repressed the anger, but this day it's reached a boiling point and he can't keep it in anymore. Ian yells at his father, and suddenly, some "power" comes out of Ian and starts moving things in the room, as if a giant invisible bubble of energy has come out of him. And it keeps growing. When he explodes with anger, the energy destroys the room and Ian falls to the ground in the fetal position, whimpering. His father gives him a look that Ian interprets as either disgust or disappointment or fear...Ian's not a hundred percent sure, but he knows it's not good. That alone crushes Ian. But then his father rushes past him to something out of Ian's sight. When Ian turns to see what it is, he sees his little sister, Ally, unconscious. His father's holding her in his arms and Ian realizes his father is protecting her from him. So Ian's entire world turns upside down that day. That scene lasts all of two pages but it does its job of the readers relating to Ian, connecting with him, and then building tension for them.