And then what?

Have you ever stopped to wonder why, when you finish a chapter and you have things to do, you keep reading instead? One of the rules of writing: Every scene, every chapter, should have a hook, something that makes you want to turn the page. If you finish a chapter with "and it was the end of the day so they went to bed," so will your reader. But if you finish your chapter with, "and then the bad guy walked in," you're going to want to know what's going to happen next.

That applies to more than just reading a book. As an author, we're often told to write your characters into a corner, and we don't always know the way out. Oftentimes, the hook isn't always obvious, but sometimes... That hook not only keeps you reading, it keeps the author writing. Trouble is interesting. Mysterious characters who show up out of the blue are interesting. 

I often find myself writing the end of a chapter, and if it's the end of my writing day, I'll keep going into the next so I know what I did there. If I finished a scene with a potential villain walking in, I'll leave myself a note so I know where to pick up. If I leave a character in potential jeopardy, I make a note that the next time I go into that point of view, I need to resolve the jeopardy (or up the ante). One example: Bella is in the kitchen at Edith Ann's, the coffee shop she runs. The server on duty comes in to tell her someone is asking for her in the dining room. Bella goes to see, and the potential villain's sister introduces herself. What does she want? The reader has to wait to find out, because now it's time to switch POV and get the forensic results for the second body in the coffin. (Second body in the coffin? Yep, but I'm not giving the whole book away here.) But how did he know to point the forensic anthropologist/dentist in the right direction? Welp, that all has to be addressed before he goes out on patrol and runs into... duh duh duh ... the girl Bella interviewed for a job at the coffee shop -- and the girl is being stalked. By who? End of chapter.

You get the drift. 

In a world full of distractions, it's hard to stay motivated, but if you keep leaving yourself spicy breadcrumbs, they're more likely to draw you back in, both as a reader and as a writer.