3 ms·
Multiple mcguffins, drip-feed expository dialogue and prose, cliff-hanger in 30 minute reading time chunks. Always keep at least one good mystery open. Start in
by madaxe_again 10y ago
Multiple mcguffins, drip-feed expository dialogue and prose, cliff-hanger in 30 minute reading time chunks. Always keep at least one good mystery open. Start in media res, slow the pace for the second act, which is where you consolidate to accelerate to a frantic conclusion where you draw seemingly unrelated threads together. Essentially, give the reader a reason to keep reading, and to keep coming back.
It's not Brown's recipe, it's how pretty much all compelling fiction hangs together.
- midgetjones 10y agoWell I never knew about McGuffins before. Every day's a school day :)
- ggambetta 10y agoPretty much, plus mini-cliffhangers at the end of each chapter. And tons of chapters. My novel has around 70, so roughly 5 pages on average. It helps keep the pace, and because of the psychological need to read "just one more chapter", it makes it a "page turner" or "a book you just can't put down".