There are, of course, many answers. The reasons readers decide to keep reading include everything from lovable characters to funny dialogue. But at the most foundational level the reason readers stick with a book all the way to page 528 is that there’s something they want to know. The author has raised a question in the first chapter, and the reader is curious enough to read through 528 pages to find the answer.
Sometimes that question is something basic, such as will the heroine’s marriage survive? Sometimes it’s something more complicated, such as will the detective hero figure out his split personality is the mass murderer he’s been tracking all this time?
However, no matter how emotionally resonant or high concept your question, the question by itself won’t be enough to get readers all the way to end of the book. After all, 528 pages is a long way to go, and readers today have notoriously short attention spans. So what do clever authors do? They keep reminding readers of the initial question and tantalizing them with small and incomplete clues to the answer. These clues are the breadcrumbs that will lead curious readers on a trail right to the Big Finale’s front door.
In a mystery, these breadcrumbs might take the form of literal clues. Perhaps the heroine, searching for her mother’s killer, keeps discovering hints of the truth, which lead her closer and closer to the answer.
But breadcrumbs can also come in other forms. For example, if readers are wondering whether your romance is going to end happily ever after, your breadcrumbs might include moments of progression in the two leads’ relationship.
Whatever the case, just make sure your every plot point is a breadcrumb reinforcing your readers’ overpowering need to read on and find the answers.
