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OH, MY GOD! How we do go off on tangents! Can you really imagine yourself going back over years of old reviews to alter them? What a waste of time! I've blocked four people in the three years of my membership, one of whom appeared to be a seriously sick individual who talked about kidnappings and torture. Sol fixed that situation. If he says he will fix something, he will.
Admittedly, it's annoying to see that someone you blocked can still rewrite their old reviews (which is what I understood you to mean). If that happens, can't you delete those reviews?
But do you really care? Who wants to waste their time on a Hatfield-McCoy feud? (Apologies, Dill--I'm not well-versed enough in history to refer to an English rivalry.)

I agree. Shut it down. JP

Some of you have recently written books involving terrorists. Did you find other websites you thought were useful?

It does sound hellacious. In that case, I'm going with phonetic spellings and translations!  JP

I think we've been talking about what a writer does to advance a story (1), when the question intended was really something else.

What Sherry wanted to know was what we do to keep a reader turning the pages all the way to the end (2). While these two can overlap, they aren't necessarily the same thing. How do you get your readers so invested in the story they want to keep reading to the last page? Is it a challenging plot? sympathetic characters? something else?

We've discussed the technique--what about the affect?

jp

Damn, Jack! That was one hard quiz. Since I don't often read thrillers, nor many mysteries of late, I withdrew from this group a while back when things were getting too hectic. I just rejoined so I can be ready for your next quiz. But have a heart--we're not all great brains like you.

Glad to be back.  JP

I'm thrilled right now to have just around 150 stored up. I don't know how you do it. It takes me a while to read (and reread) a chapter/ short story, and I have to think about the writer's style and voice. I try not to make suggestions that would compromise either. I do this because I have, once or twice, received reviews that suggested so many changes that, if I had made them, I would have been writing someone else's story, not mine. (I think once I even told the reviewer to go write their own version.)
What I'm trying to say is that I work on my reviews. I don't turn them out fast. And I don't pile up the points.
More power to those who have the stamina to keep going. You must work a lot faster than I do.

You know what really gets to me? following the author all the way to the end of a book, only to find that there is no end. The conflict is not resolved, the characters have not completed an arc. The reader will have to wade through another book, and then possibly others after that, to find out how it all turns out. Steven King promised a trilogy about that blasted tower, and turned it into what--eight books? I quit reading his books. Anne Rice did the same thing. I'm still mad at her.

There should at least be a sub-plot for each book, so the story has a beginning, middle and END when the last page is turned. I feel cheated when I get to the end and find a cliffhanger.

If I enjoyed the story, I'll keep reading, but I really hate finding an announcement at the end that the sequel will be out NEXT YEAR. Don't do that to your readers!

The answers are in!

I don't remember--I just stuck with it until I ran out of episodes.

Beautiful book! It absolutely does what it's supposed to--grabs your attention without too-small lettering or distracting images.Showing the word 'vengeance' in a fiery gold conveys anger. The flames and the almost-invisible code whet our appetite for the story. Super job!  JP