I grabbed dinner with a friend recently and we got to talking story.

We were both English majors, so fiction is a go-to topic. In this instance, we were discussing fantasy. As readers, what do we want in a fantasy novel? What makes a book a page turner? What level of world building do we like?

Of course, Tolkien came up. My friend mentioned that she loved the Lord of the Rings movies, but the books were too dense for her enjoyment. Then she said, “He was a linguist, after all.”

I’d never thought of it that way, but she has a point. Tolkien enjoyed thinking about the way words fit together to form sentences. He enjoyed pages of description about mountains and hollows even if those mountains and hollows never showed up again. I wouldn’t say his goal involved pushing the reader along in a fast pace. And that’s cool. We all know and love Tolkien for his world building.

However, I enjoy a good page turner. I love a novel that compels me to keep reading.

So, what are those defining ingredients that make a novel utterly compelling? The writing has a rhythm, the main character has a voice, and the reader has hope, faith, and clarity.

Let’s tackle them one by one.

Rhythm.

Writing is like music. Every writer has their own interpretation of rhythm. What I mean by that is every writer writes in a combination of short and long sentences. The way an author puts those sentences together, short-short-long or long-long-short, forms their rhythm over the course of a novel.

There’s also setting, action, dialogue, and description to consider. The way an author switches among those aspects of fiction is another part of their rhythm. This is hard to teach but important.

Voice.

I wrote a post about voice last week, so check that out for ideas of how to accomplish voice, but essentially it boils down to this: does your character sound like an actual human? That human could be organized and achievement oriented. That human could be sarcastic and dark. That human could be charming and light. No matter which direction you take a character, ask yourself does the story use the language they would use? Do the character’s thoughts match their personalities?

Hope, faith, and clarity.

I heard this recently from the business director and wife of an author. The compulsion to continue reading hinges on three things: hope, faith and clarity. Where did you get bored? Where did you think the writing was unbelievable i.e. the characters would never do that? Where did you think the writing was unclear? You can ask test readers these questions, but also ask yourself. A reader needs to believe in your characters, have hope that something is going to happen, and understand what you’re trying to convey. Those are the ingredients that push a reader forward.

There you have it, the secret sauce for writing a page-turning novel. If you’re interested in world building check out my post about that here.

What things do you think contribute to a page-turning novel?

Photos by Pexels and mali maeder