Have smashing, cliff-hanger chapter and book endings.

by Richard Grimm

If you do, readers will want to keep reading. I found that stopping in the middle of the story and focusing on another character for a little while works really well. Like this:
(This is not from a book of mine.)

**************************************************

Ben ducked under the punch and kicked violently, striking his opponent in the shin.
His enemy howled and swung again, this time hitting Ben in the face and he blacked out.
(Then stop there and move to another character.)

**************************************************

Another thing:
For the first chapter of your book, if it's an adventurous story, drop your reader into the middle of a fight, or something exciting, so that they'll get excited, too. Then as the fight progresses, you can reveal things about your story and characters.

I personally enjoy writing humor-filled books. Most of my books are somewhat dramatic, but have plenty of humor to lighten up the mood.

Surprise your readers. Remove a character from the story in a surprising way, and your story will be compelling!
I generally have some extra characters in my stories to kill off, to keep the reader interested.
Keeping readers interested is important! You don't want them getting bored and setting the book down.

Thanks for reading!
-RichardGrimm
(Richard Grimm is my writing name, not my real name.)
-JessePulliam