Keeping tension or suspense high is the best was to keep readers turning pages. They just have to know what will happen.
Another way of creating tension is to put a time limit on what needs to be done, a time limit that is difficult to work within successfully. It forces your characters to be inventive and resilient, and the clock counting down keeps readers on the edge of their seats. And it keeps those pages turning.
You are a portrait hanging on a museum wall. You have fallen in love with another piece of artwork. A magician comes in one night and casts a spell that allows you to step down, alive, from the canvas. He tells you that you have 3 hours to find a way to release your love, and to find the key that will allow you both to retain your human forms. If not, you both will return to being merely a piece of art in a museum. What do you do? You have 10 minutes to finish this scene. Start your timer and write.
Was your artwork successful in becoming human and saving his/her love?
