Last Panel Hook: Keeping the Player Interested

There’s a very common comic-book writing technique focusing on the last panel on a page. The idea is that the last panel is incredibly important . People reach that panel, and they have two options. They can turn the page and see what’s next. Or they can stop reading. Now, technically, you can stop reading at any point - but how many people stop reading in the middle of a page? Nobody does. You reach the last panel and you decide then . Therefore, you want that last panel to encourage the reader to turn the page. There is something exciting on the next page! You’ll never know unless you turn that page! You have to see it ! And, of course, once you do . . . well, you have to finish the page . . . and then, well, one more page won’t hurt. Right? I imagine there’s a similar concept involving movie scenes. It’s not much of a stretch to imagine a playwright equivalent. Books are trickier, as there’s no particularly obvious “...