What keeps you hooked on a story?!

Hey guys! I’m currently writing my first story! And I’ve been wondering what keeps a reader hooked on a story!? What do you like to see in stories you read? Or what are things that annoy you when reading a story? I’d appreciate the feedback! I love reading everyone’s point of views! Thank you sooo much!! ((: Hope you all have a good night or day! :sparkles::heartpulse:

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What keeps me hooked it good characters, a nice plot, and a little comedy in a story.

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Good and clear character personality with character development throughout the story, decent directing (doesn’t need to be super advanced but past the standard commands), unique and original plot with a clear conflict/purpose <3333

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I guess there are general things to be mindful of-- grammar and punctuation, realistic character placement (smaller characters if they are in the background and correct layering), and three-dimensional characters.

So my recommendation is finding a beta reader (honestly, I’ll just raise my hand for this one if you want to skip making a public post), who can read and check for errors before you publish. That will just ensure that your story is visibly attractive.

When it comes to plot, it depends on the genre. Cliffhangers are definitely key for all genres, but they can be small-- they don’t have to be overly dramatic (no one has to die in every chapter to keep people interested). The things that annoy me most are stereotypes. Some are passable, but do not have token black characters, basic mean girls, etc. Everyone has a story and they deserve to have one. Even for smaller characters, make sure you know their backstory (this does not have to be spelled out to the reader, but you should know what drives them).

And if you’re writing a romance… please, for the love of GOD, do not write about the Mafia. They are never portrayed correctly, and if they were-- they’d be breaking the guidelines.

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first, the story has to be something I wanna read, that is always a given if its not a plot I care for I won’t read it

but after that, a good plot put well together there make sense and are also interesting

likeable characters, if you dont like the characters you dont wanna read a story. I just read a story where not a single character was likeable, MC was annoying childish yelled at everyone, her boyfriend was a cheater, and the best friend was terrible,
note making everyone else horrible won’t make the MC likeable. and giving her a tragic backstory won’t make her likeable either

good directing, if it has mistakes everywhere, with animation looping, or they are spot in a wrong place, nope, you dont need amazing advanced directing, just dont have very easy corrected mistakes

good choices, many new writers dont add choices, and that is a thing I will leave a story for

a cc only chapter is a fast nope out of that story

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Ahh alright, I’ll definitely keep that in mind! I appreciate your response! Thank you!

Oooh alright! Thank you so much for sharing! (:

Thank you so much! Your comment was really helpful! I appreciate it! I’ll definitely have that in mind for sure!

Hmm alright, thank you for your comment! This was helpful as well! I’ll keep it in mind! Thank you again!

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well-developed, unique characters with logical backstories and unexpected plot twists mostly. i don’t want a predictable, unecessary plot twist or one-dimensional characters. it throws me off.

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Oooh a plot twist! I didn’t think of that! Thank you so much!! This was very helpful!

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The cliffhangers, the plot and frequent updates (like I waited 2 years for an update to come out in a story, and finally the chapter came out 2 weeks ago. The only thing that keeps me hooked up in that story is a cliffhanger/flashback that makes me question what’s it about -well the plot is amazing too-)

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Ah makes sense! Thank you so much! I appreciate your feedback!

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Stories where choices matter are always a go-to for me - I also love anything ‘Choose your own adventure’ where you go on a journey to become rich, famous, popular etc

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Yeah those types of stories are fun!

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i find that building up the suspense then leaving on a cliffhanger is the way to go, don’t do it all the time tho because readers will get traumatized if they run out of passes.
Secondly show character development. E.g at the start of the story the MC has a habit of picking their nose at the start of the story and at the end there is a resolution to this Nasty problem.

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Good plot, fun characters, and cliffhangers

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Oooh alright. And I didn’t think about readers getting traumatized haha when I used to be always on episode I’d always freak out because I didn’t have anymore passes haha. Thank you for bringing it up!

I’ll definitely use that tip! Thank you!

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if it’s not predictable, i’ll probably keep reading.

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