One of the most common missed opportunities I see when I’m editing novels involves mysteries.

Do you want to know what it is? Am I being mysterious?

Often, when authors are trying to create mysteries, instead of building delicious anticipation, they end up being maddeningly vague. It’s really hard to invest in a mystery when we don’t have enough information to understand what’s happening entirely.

In order to feel suspense, the reader needs to be primed around why they should care.

In the original version of this post, I oriented it around how to build mysteries around whether characters succeed or fail. And that’s important! But priming the reader goes beyond simply establishing mysteries. Any time you want the reader to feel a sense of dread or anticipation or to set up a delicious payoff down the line, it’s crucial to clue in the reader and to lay the groundwork for your characters’ triumphs and failures.

Prime the reader any time you want them to care. Here’s what I mean.