How to Craft Page-Turning Chapter Endings

As writers, one of our core missions is to craft stories in which our readers can invest. Stories so captivating that readers fly through the pages.

The most opportune time for readers to set a book aside comes when they finish a chapter. In that space between one page and the next, readers ask themselves just how much they care about the fate of the characters. Do they need to know what happens next? If their gut says no, they’ll likely set the book aside—and there’s a decent chance they might not pick it up again.

To pen a deliciously addictive book, it’s therefore vital to consider the page-turning power of your chapter endings. Where a dull closing page will deter readers, a few intriguing lines can hook them in for yet another scene. But how, exactly, do you go about instilling readers with the need to know what happens next?