The Unknown is more important than the Known

“Hey girls, should I be calling the cops?” Zeb asked.

Above is a quote from Native Foreigners. It’s an intriguing sentence. Now, why is that? Well, you get a sense of danger due to the mentioning of police. However, you don’t know why he should be calling the police?

This leads to curiosity and curiosity lead to interest. We know lots of things. Since youth, knowledge was one of our greatest concerns. So, when we don’t understand something, we strive to find an answer.

This applies to reading and writing too. The less you know, the more likely you’re going to continue. You want the answers, so you’ll read a thousand pages to get it. That means, you just can’t have a curious one sentence, but chapters that lead to more problems than solutions. If you read Native Foreigners.You’ll know that the characters themselves aren’t too sure what happened in that first chapter.

Don’t go through the whole book like that either. Readers want the answers, but don’t do an info dump. Reveal things slowly. As you reveal, let it lead to more questions that will also be answered later in the book.

Remember, the unknown is what keeps people reading because they want answers.