Beyond the Opening Hook

[Helen]

How do authors keep readers hooked and turning pages well into the night? I'm blogging this week on chapter and scene hooks: http://helencjohannes.blogspot.com/

[Stan]

You make a good point in your post. The end of chapter hook might defined better as the point of an emotional tug, primarily from anticipation.

For example, ending a chapter with "Will you marry me?" is not a cliff hanger in the physical sense, but it is an emotional cliff hanger.

[Helen]

You're right, Stan. Emotion works just as well as physical danger.

[Thaddeus]

Good article.

Sometimes, just a tantalizing hint of a new story thread can get me to turn the page into the next chapter. The pacing has to done right so I don't feel like it is a cheap ploy to keep me going.

Personally, I am not so much a fan of the big cliff hanger. I like a more subtle hook into the next chapter. I don't want to feel forced to turn the page.

I am a reader who is less interested in beautiful prose than a good story. So, I like it when the mechanics of the hook are almost invisible to me. If a chapter ends in the middle of a scene, the break in the flow wakes me out of the story for a moment and I realize I am at a point where perhaps I can set the book down and catch a couple hours of sleep before I have to get up in the morning.

When done right, I will read on, telling myself there is still time before I really MUST sleep.

[Helen]

Good insights, Thaddeus. I agree that I don't like the obvious 'mechanical' hook, but I don't mind switching around during the last quarter of the book when events come to a head. I expect that as the intensity is at peak and all character threads need to be addressed.