In a post on the Killzone blog, James Scott Bell offers advice for writing page-turning fiction by having trouble brewing in every scene. “Somewhere around the middle of Act I is a scene where we get a whiff of big trouble to come,” Bell says. “But it’s not only here that trouble should brew. It really needs to be bubbling throughout the book.”
Often, these moments come at the end of a chapter, to encourage a reader to turn the page to the next. They can be portrayed with action – something happening or about to happen – or a character’s thoughts.
“Look at all your scene endings,” Bell suggests. “See if you can add some form of trouble—brewing or happening. I’ve also found a [read-on prompt] can be produced when you cut the last line or two of the ending. It leaves a sense that something is not quite resolved.”
