Whether it's your first time or your sixth time, writing a novella in 12 weeks isn't easy.
As a 2021 ONC Winner and 2023 Honorable Mention, I would know. After years of participation and reflection, I have lots of advice to share on how I did it. In...
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To win the ONC, your novella needs to keep the judges wanting more. It needs to get them, and your readers, invested in the conflict and characters arcs of the story and make them keep reading.
How do you do this without it feeling cheap? Use micro-cliffhangers!
Basically, a micro-cliffhanger is when you set-up your chapters to end on a question. This makes readers want to answer it, and to get the answer, they'll have to swipe up the next chapter and read to find out.
I don't mean to exactly end your chapter on a question such as "What is going to happen next?" or "How were they going to get out the labyrinth?" Rather, I mean building up your scenes and or chapters to reveal something that is unexpected or unsettling to the point where everyone is going to want to know what happens after.
This could be a character finding out crucial information, a confrontation where the chapter e ends before the character can react, or anywhere else where the stakes are amped up.
The crux of the tip is to strategically break your chapters to ensure your readers will be wondering who, what, why, where, and how at the end of them. Do that, and you'll have readers bouncing on the edge of their seat in no time.
