These pages will not turn themselves!
Wednesday, July 17, 2013 at 4:00AM in Inspiration From J.A. Konrath's blog, some of Ann Voss Peterson's techniques for crafting a page-turner of a book:
Pacing isn’t about speed.
That’s right. Pacing doesn’t have ANYTHING to do with how fast the action unfolds on the page. Think about it. We've all read thrillers where plenty of action takes place, but they still feel as if they’re moving as slow as a Prius driver at a four-way stop. We've also read literary novels or family dramas which don’t have a lot of exterior “stuff” happening, yet leave us breathless. So if a novel’s pace isn’t about speed, what IS it about?
The secret to pacing your novel—whatever genre you're writing—is making your reader NEED to turn the page.
Well I just happen to be a reader. I’ll bet you are, too. So I asked myself what makes ME want to turn the page, and I came up with four things.
1. Conflict: I turn the page to discover who wins the fight.
2. Sequence: I turn the page to uncover what happens next.
3. Delayed Gratification: I turn the page to learn the answers to my questions.
4. Escalation: I turn the page to see how on earth the protagonist gets out of this unholy mess!
Read the rest here!
Joe's advice at the bottom of the post is just as good. Read it. Read it all!