When it comes to crafting a book, everyone wants something that will have the reader turning the page.

While such an achievement requires a combination of factors like a good plot, excellent characters, well-flowing prose, chocolate sacrifices, and the naming rights of your firstborn to the muse (if you’re willing to go that far), you can also create a page-turner with some well-placed tension.

Tension in your novel also helps to add layers to your characters and to move your story forward—other essential ingredients for an excellent book.

Writing Tips: Building Tension

Add Unanswered Questions

Have you ever read a book that’s just been okay? The premise is fine, the characters relatable enough, you aren’t racing to pick it up every day, but you’re not ready to boot it from your reading pile just yet. Then it happens. You come across one sentence that forms a question.

It could…