Dreame Writing Guides

Part 20 How to Make Readers Want to Continue Reading Your Story

For a writer, getting support for doing what they love could make their day, but it can be hard to make readers want to continue reading your story. Here we would like to share some tips, tricks, and guidelines that may make it easier for you to do just that!

A. How to Decide Where to Set The Locked Chapters

We recommend authors set the locked chapters just after a suspense moment has taken place, in the middle of a tense scene, at a cliff-hanger, or amid a twist or arc in a character's relationship. By doing this, readers will really want to read what's happens, to the extent that they would even PAY money to find out. It's the same as when we are watching a TV series. Each episode ends in a suspenseful way, and it makes the audience interested.

Surely, there will be lots of tense scenes and suspenseful plot twists in your story, so it is essential to consider where each chapter ends and begins, how long they should be, how many chapters should there be in a book, and how many chapters you should give away for free. Generally, we suggest that you give away 10%-20% of your book for free. For example, if a book has 50 chapters, and your story is qualified to apply for our Pay-to-Read program, you could choose to give away five to ten chapters. The last chapter that you give away should have an ending that is exciting, full of tension, and preferably a cliff-hanger. How much you give away also depends on a book's word count and how your plot line develops. After having written a 200,000-word long story, an author may not only want to give away 10 chapters for the story just starts, so you can see that the 10%-20% is a guideline and not a rule.

As an example, look at "Blood Bound," which is a story on our platform that was written by bunky. "Blood Bound" has 29 chapters in total, so when we are deciding how many chapters to give away, the first step is to use 10%-20% guide and settled at three to six. From there, let’s look at chapters four, five, and six, to determine which one had the most exciting and intriguing ending that, after reading, would make readers want to continue reading, even if they need to PAY.

After reading these three chapters, you will see the ending to Chapter 4 had the most intriguing and intoxicating end. Below are the last two paragraphs to Chapter 4. After reading them, you will likely want to know what happens next? Will something naughty occur in the shower room? What will the two characters talk about? How will things develop between them? Readers will want to find out. Thus, Chapter 5 would be the first chapter that readers would be required to pay for. The first chapter that you need to pay to read is considered "Locked."

"I really hope no one heard me with their super wolf hearing. I stepped out of the shower after rinsing off the soap wondering what came over me.

The door that was previously locked busted open as a tall figure with black eyes looked at me. Quickly wrapping a towel around myself, I came face to face with Liam."

When determining which chapter to lock first, there are two factors that you should take into consideration: a) whether the chapter leaves off on a suspenseful moment or cliff-hanger. b) refer to the word-count and plot line to select a general area that you want to give away.

B. How to Leave A Cliff-hanger at The End of A Chapter

Every time a reader finishes a chapter, they have the opportunity to take a rest and choose to do something else or to select another story to read. Don't let them. Force them to stick with your story!

A good story will keep readers up until 4 am, and they still won't want to go to bed! The best writer is a magician who makes the reader feel the power of the trick but preventing them from noticing the sleight of hand. But how? How can our books have this effect on readers, so that they mess up their timetables, and consume all of their time?

The answer is quite clear: CLIFF-HANGER. The cliff-hanger is probably the most famous type of chapter ending.

Let's look at this example from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (By J. K. Rowling). This is taken from Chapter 3, which is titled Letters from No One:

"One minute to go, and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds…twenty…ten…nine – maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him – three…two…one…

BOOM!

The whole shack shivered, and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in."

Obviously, after reading this, you will turn the page and start reading the next chapter to know who was outside knocking at the door. The reason for such an ending is to create interest for the readers so that they will move on to the next chapter without the slightest hesitation.

So now, how does an author write an intriguing cliff-hanger? Here are some tips:

1. Ask a Question

End your chapter with a question. Consider the five W's: Who, What, Where, When, and Why. There is nobody that doesn't want to know the answer to a question? In a book, a question propels a reader to seek the solution, which they can only find in the next chapter. As an example, a chapter could end like this: "A stranger was standing at my door in the middle of the night. Not knowing what else to do, I called out, 'Who's there?'"

2. A surprising announcement

A cliff-hanger should create emotional tension. Sentences like, "I'm married," "I broke up," "I'm pregnant," and, "I had an affair," will cause a reader to want to know how the statements are received.

3. Endings=Beginnings

Put a beginning at the end of the chapter.

Having someone/something arrived at the end of your chapter is one of the best ways to leave off. Arrivals are an excellent technique an author can use to compel a reader to continue reading. They suggest a new beginning. If they liked everything that came before, they would be left with the sense that they will love the things to come. As an example, after settling things with his wife, there might be a knock on the door and a voice that says, "Mr. Corry, this is the police. Can we talk to you?"

4. An action that causes tensed emotion

This method is usually for romance stories. It is a device that helps heighten the character's emotional levels. This one works best early in a story where the characters are still a bit unsure of each other. The final paragraph in the chapter could include a kiss, slap, or sensuous touch. A concluding sentence might read something like this: He looked at me intensely, and for the first time, I felt his hand touch my skin, and it sent shivers of desire through my body.

C. The Importance of Writing A Long-length Novel and Daily-updating

A long-length novel should be more engaging and less literary so that it is accessible for more readers. With long-length books, the dialogue of the characters is particularly important, as it reflects the true nature of each individual, and helps readers understand the main themes in the story.

Long-length stories match with daily updates. There is a column on our homepage called Daily Updates. The signed stories that are updated daily will be shown in this column (please contact your editor to put on the daily-update tag in advance). If you update your story daily, it will receive more exposure, and more people will likely read it. The idea is for readers to make checking out your updates a part of their daily routine. In time, you will have a loyal fan base. The longer your story is, the more updates you can post, and the more followers you will get!

Many bestselling novels are long-length novels, such as Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Twilight, The Chronicles of Narnia, and A Song of Ice and Fire. Long-length novels are more likely to be published as a paperback that short-length books are. For example, The Alpha's Daughter, which is one of the books on our platform, was published as a paperback. One of the reasons why we chose it to publish it as a paperback was because it's one of the books in a series, and it's a long-length novel.

Long-length novels and Daily-updated books are complementary. Because writing is a long-term business, it would be difficult to see immediate results. You must have patience and persevere. The first and foremost reason to write is for the love of your art. Writing as a hobby may not be enough for a writer, though, and in this Internet era, it is not difficult to get published. Of course, if a writer wants to master their craft, it takes work. Many people give up without having properly tried, robbing the world of whatever masterpieces they had stored up inside of them. Don't let that be you!

Here's our recommendation: Get your first draft on paper without over-thinking it. By taking a stream of consciousness approach, you can effectively overcome writing delays such as writers-block and self-doubt. Write fast and write about what you know. As you succeed, your confidence will improve, as will your skill as a writer. After all, the most common advice given to would-be writers is this: "If you want to be a writer, write!"

                                                                                                                                                                                BY Viktor