To write the kind of fiction readers can’t or won’t put down it’s necessary to create compelling conflict. Perfection is boring. So is a dull life. The writer should consider creating a character whose life seems to be going along beautifully until things twist around. Example: a successful executive is suddenly fired. A talented surgeon is involved in an accident losing the use of a hand.
In my historical mystery novel HEART OF WISDOM, Sora in the second part
of the novel struggles to clear her husband of murder charges, placing her own
life in jeopardy.
A writer needs to set up values and goals unique to the character/protagonist. The plot must fit the character. Which should come first? Plot or character? Either one. They just have to work well together. Plots have a chain of cause and effect relationships, not just what happens, which is the story, but why things happen the way they do. Clearly, this brings character into play. It is important to initially define the main characters--what they want, what motivates and drives their needs.
I try to start a book or story in medias res, beginning in the middle of a scene of some significance. Something important should be happening. Dialogue and action are crucial. I don’t want a static beginning.
I suggest the writer intrigues the reader by starting with some form of mystery. Make readers curious from the first and then keep them guessing.
Think of the middle of the novel as rising action (Aristotle’s words). What happens grows organically from what occurs in the beginning. The protagonist runs into difficulties, obstacles that can’t easily be solved. Don’t slow the pace. Keep the tension building. Increase the danger and/or the obstacles. This goes for any genre of fiction whether it is romance, sci-fi, mystery, literary etc.
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