The obvious thing as a novelist that you want to do is make the reader ask "what comes next?" To get them hooked so that they keep reading the story.
But in addition to that, I want them to ask the following question:
"What's going on here?"
I want them to be uncomfortable. I want them to wonder about the past. I want them to be baffled about the present. I want them to need to know the outcome. I want them to WANT to take the journey, whatever it might be, so that they can have their questions answered.
Believe me--I don't always get this right. But this is a goal. To set up a scenario with far more questions than answers. The fun part is answering them in my own unique way.
Labels: tips, writing