by Hannah Curtis

Created on: July 31, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2010

There are several elements that need to be considered when you are writing a novel in order to keep your readers interested. 

1) Personality: You need strong characters who readers will relate to. The hero/heroine naturally can be noble, handsome, beautiful and have good commendable personalities and qualities. However it is necessary that they have a flaw in their character, for example a hot temper, a jealous streak, or a judgemental personality. This makes them human and allows the reader to be emphatic towards them, recognising parts of themselves in the lead characters. The villain or anti-hero can be evil, in thought, word and deed, however the reader still needs to care for them or relate to them, so they need to have a sympathetic quality.

2) Getting the balance right: It is important that there is plenty of interaction between characters in your novel, amongst a decent proportion of description. It can be a difficult balance to find for you cannot please every reader; some will adore pages and pages of description, whilst others would prefer all dialogue. To keep the reader interested the descriptive content needs to be written in a way to capture the imagination. Readers should be able to see the locations and characters in their mind's eye. 

The dialogue should be in short sentences and long lengthy speeches should be kept minimal. The dialogue also needs to remain real. This can be extremely difficult to pitch however it is vital that a sixty year old man for example speaks in the right tone for his age and generation. He cannot use phrases and terminology that a sixteen year old guy would be expected to use. I maintain that the hardest part of writing a historical novel is ensuring that the dialogue is appropriate for the period.  

3) The plot: It needs to be appealing and secure the reader's attention. There are two paths the author can explore in regards to the plot. The outline can be completely different from previous novels; the outcome can surprise the reader and not follow a familiar pattern or formula. Twists, turns and plot contrivances keep the interest. Conversely time old formulas can be commonly used for romance, comedy and action. Readers who are fans of particular time old formulas are kept interested in your novel if a well known story line is used, for they are comfortable with the style. They know what to expect, what is going to happen, however this adds to the enjoyment of the read for them.

Every plot and character needs to be believable, even within the genre of science fiction. Novels can stretch the boundaries of imagination, however it always has to be within reason. A sense of reality is always required to keep the reader's interest, their enjoyment and involvement will be marred if the story line or dialogue is too absurd or unbelievable.

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