The Joy of Discovery: Keeping Readers Hooked Through Story Revelations

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

The need to know is what keeps readers interested in your novel. Don't let them down.

My husband and I watch a lot of movies, and we often discuss them over a meal afterward. Years ago, we were deciding if we wanted to see Men in Black 3. We both loved the original, felt the sequel was meh, and had read not-great reviews about the third (we did end up seeing it).

Then my husband said something profound (as he often does) that really related to writing and keeping readers hooked in a novel.

"The first movie had the joy of discovery in it that was missing from the second."

Which totally nails why a book, especially in a series, can fall flat.

One of the ways readers stay interested in a story is by learning new things about the world and characters. The discovery of who they are, what they can do, and how everything works, can be very compelling.

What are your readers discovering about your novel?

When you're revising (or even during that first draft), pay attention to when you're revealing new information and how often you do it. If you have long stretches where there's nothing for the reader to discover, you risk them getting bored. They're seeing the same things they've already seen or the same solutions to problems, even if those problems are new.

Take my Healing Wars protagonist, Nya, for example. She has a pretty cool ability that's revealed in the opening scene. She can heal by shifting pain from person to person. Readers are curious about this and will stay with me as she pain shifts over the course of the novel. But since this is her power, she uses it a lot. That can get boring as readers know she's going to use it when she gets into trouble. It couldn't all be "and here's where Nya pain shifts to get out of this."

I needed to reveal new things about this power to keep them interested.

So at various parts of the book (typically when I raise the stakes or during a major set piece), Nya discovers either different ways to use her power, or that she can do more than just pain shift. Then she discovers new ways to use those new abilities. These little reveals keep readers hooked because they keep learning new things about the character.

And it's not just character abilities or secrets. Plot points can be reveals, so can secrets, or even backstory (at the right time) can work as discoveries to hook your reader. Odds are all your act ends and major plot points will have some discovery element to them.

(Here's more on Tah-Dah! The Best Place to Reveal Your Story Secrets)

So, take a look at your novel (first or later draft):

List the big reveals and discoveries and what chapter they happen in 

How many do you have? Are they evenly spread across the entire story or all they all clumped at the beginning (a red flag for too much exposition or backstory) or the end (a red flag for holding out on the reader)?

How many are plot related? 

This is a good indicator of your pacing, as things are (or are not) happening to move the story along. Few plot reveals or discoveries suggests a lack of personally motivated goals.

How many are character related? 

This is a good indicator of how your growth or internal conflict is moving along. If the character isn't learning/revealing new things about themselves, they might not be growing. Few character reveals suggests nothing is changing about that character and they're not trying or learning new things.

How many are backstory/world building related? 

If you have a lot here (or the balance is way off in favor of this), it's a red flag that your protagonist might not be driving the story. The focus is more on telling the history of a place or person, not so much on what the characters are doing. Some backstory reveals are fine if the reader wants to know that history or it bears heavily on plot or character arc, but if a lot of the reveals or discoveries are cool aspects of the world or situation, it could indicate you have a premise novel on your hands.

(Here's more on Is Your Novel All Premise and No Plot?)

A good mix of all three should give you enough reveals to show readers something new all through the book. While you don't have to have a reveal in every chapter (but it's nice if you can swing it), long stretches between discoveries could indicate a pacing problem (or a plot problem if nothing new is ever revealed). If your story goes three or four chapters and nothing new is revealed, you might consider rethinking those chapters.

Keeping readers hooked is about making them want answers to their story questions. 

What happens next? What else can they do? How will they get out of this? What's the deal with X? Why is Y doing that? Learning new things keeps them interested and wanting to know more.

Are you revealing enough in your story? Are there any discoveries you could show that would strengthen your story? 

Originally published May 2012. Last updated November 2019.

For more help on plotting or writing a novel check out my Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure.

Go step-by-step through plotting and writing a novel. Learn how to find and develop ideas, brainstorm stories from that first spark of inspiration, develop the right characters, setting, plots and subplots, as well as teach you how to identify where your novel fits in the market, and if your idea has what it takes to be a series.

With clear and easy-to-understand examples, Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure offers ten self-guided workshops with more than 100 different exercises to help you craft a solid novel. Learn how to:

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Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure also helps you develop the critical elements for submitting and selling your novel once it’s finished. You’ll find exercises on how to:

• Craft your one-sentence pitch
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Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure is an easy-to-follow guide to writing your novel or fixing a novel that isn’t quite working. 

Available in paperback and ebook formats.

Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. The Shifter, was chosen for the 2014 list of "Ten Books All Young Georgians Should Read" from the Georgia Center for the Book.

She also writes the Grace Harper urban fantasy series for adults under the name, J.T. Hardy.

When she's not writing novels, she's teaching other writers how to improve their craft. She's the founder of Fiction University and has written multiple books on writing.

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