You want readers to be asking questions about your characters. Why did she do that? What happened in her past that has made her so cautious? Where did she learn to wield a knife like that? You want their minds actively engaged, drawing conclusions, making assumptions, searching for the answers. That’s what keeps them reading. Who are these characters? And what is going to happen to them?

 

I was so caught up in worrying that the reader would not understand what was going on because they didn’t know the characters as deeply as I did that I was missing the point. They don’t need to know them, not at the beginning. That is part of the enjoyment of the book—getting to know them, figuring them out, guessing what they’re going to do next. 

 

Readers are smart people. They don’t need or want everything spelled out for them. They came to you for a story, not a biography. So take them for a ride. You can’t give them the ride they paid for if you give it all away at the start. Perhaps they’ve guessed the outline from reading your back cover copy and making assumptions about your genre, but seeing a roller coaster in motion is not nearly the same as riding it through those drops and turns.

 

Reveal your characters slowly. Only tell the reader what they need to know when they need to know it. Don’t let yourself panic into disclosing more than is necessary.

 

Part of my problem was often that I knew too much about my characters. Some would say that is impossible, that you should know your characters inside and out before you even put the first word to the page. I agree that your characters should be well rounded and three-dimensional, with intriguing back-stories, but I do not believe you need to know everything about them at the beginning. Its kind of fun to leave some mystery for yourself, as well. It gives you leeway to play. As long as you make sure your characters are still believable.

 

A trick I learned to help me leave mystery to my characters was to feint, to mention something in my character’s past, but then speak of it in vague terms. The character knows what he’s referring to, and the reader is clued in to the fact that something is up, but they don’t know exactly what it is yet. But now they know to keep their eyes peeled. For example, if a character feels a stab of pain at the sight of a friend’s new baby because she has never been able to conceive herself, mention the reaction, the pain, and have her scold herself for avoiding her friend, but don’t explain why she does so. Let the reader guess, infer. Then later on when she has to admit to the man she has come to love that she’s afraid she can’t have the children he so longs for it will have maximum impact. The reader will have certainly guessed at it throughout the story, but they won’t have their suspicions confirmed until this scene.

 

In a world of Facebook and Twitter, Google and YouTube, the art of mystery is being lost. We can find out anything and everything about each other, from what college you attended to what you ate for lunch. However, with your story you have complete control over the information divulged. Disclose it in intriguing little snippets and you’ll keep your reader reeled in until the very end.