What keeps you reading? It'll help with writing!

One thing I took notice of while reading a little bit more, one vital thing that keeps me reading is the on-coming potential life change, threat, or decision that is looming.

Let me give you a couple quick examples.

(Great Example) In the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, I thought, what kept me so enticed into turning pages? What made the book so special that I couldn’t put it down? Simple, the looming threat of the actual Hunger Games kept me reading. The first story in the trilogy was driven by finding out what the hunger games were, and were these kids really going to have to face death. There was a build up like the Olympics that led to the event that held you over, and two potential relationships for the main character, but the real clincher was the Hunger Games themselves, and they did not disappoint.

(Not so great)The Stand, by Steven King is my second example. The villain and the hero are well defined, and there was a leading up to a final climax, but it was so soaked down in description, and back story that by the time I got to the end, which I forced myself to do, I just begged for it to be over. The book itself had a great secondary story which featured the gun slinger at an early age. The character was tormented by his master trainer, which he would one day have to face on his right of passage to become a man. This was way more compelling, and the fight that took pace was excellently written. If the whole book, feature this story I would have loved it, and maybe I would have been compelled to read further.

Think of it like this, if you have a clear defined “reveal” like at the end of a mystery novel, the reader keeps reading because they’ve got to know who killed who and why. But if it’s lacking, non-existent, or bogged down in needless details, back-story, or ramblings of some crazy ol’ kook, you might as well forget it. Plus, don’t give some lame ending that doesn’t live up to your hype, because like me with The Stand, you’ll never get that reader to read another thing you write.