Create your story around big events! It’s easy to get lost in your own story. Descriptions of food, historical information, an intriguing conversation - all of these can make your story believable and better, but it won’t make up for whether or not you’ve been able to hold your reader’s attention. When you are writing and outlining your story try something new. Instead of just starting at the beginning and starting to write, follow these steps. Ask yourself what your story is about, how it begins, how it ends, and then list at least five big events that will occur during your story. Look at the following examples below.

-Fighting off a rabid dog to save a loved one (Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God)

-A slaughter at a wedding (George R.R. Martin’s A Storm of Swords)

-Stealing an egg from a dragon (J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)

In J.K. Rowling’s case, each competition (saving a golden egg from dragons, rescuing your loved one from mermaids, fighting your way through an enchanted maze) during Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was a big event for the reader to get excited about and look forward to. These are all events that keep a reader interested. When reading your book you want to make sure that the only thing your reader is doing is turning the page with excitement, on the edge of their seats with bated breath as they ask themselves - what happens next?!