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Understanding the Zeigarnik effect in storytelling is the secret to writing books that readers can’t put down. This powerful psychological principle is why certain novels are so gripping that we stay up all night reading.

I’m going to show you how to leverage the Zeigarnik effect in storytelling to write page-turning fiction that keeps readers hooked.

What Is the Zeigarnik Effect? (The Psychology Behind Storytelling)

Named after the psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik, who discovered it, the Zeigarnik effect states that people remember unfinished or interrupted tasks better than completed ones. She noticed that waiters remembered the orders of customers who had not yet paid, but as soon as they did pay, the waiters completely forgot their orders.

Ever stay up all night memorizing answers for a test, only for all of that information to vanish from your brain the second the test is over? That’s the Zeigarnik effect in action.

You likely experience the Zeigarnik effect on a daily basis without realizing it. Do you find yourself thinking about the dirty dishes in the sink and the laundry you have yet to fold while you’re lying in bed? That’s your brain focused on the unfinished tasks and desperately seeking closure.

But the Zeigarnik effect can also have a positive angle. Say you go on a first date and it goes really well. You get along great. You have a lot in common. And then, after dinner, you invite your date to come back to your place. But your date says it’s late and they need to go home. There’s a 100% chance you leave that night still thinking about them, right? That’s because they’ve left you wanting more. To you, the date still feels unfinished, so it stays on your mind.

And therein lies the key to how the Zeigarnik effect in storytelling can help you craft page-turning fiction. Below are three practical techniques you can use to leverage this psychology and make your story irresistible to readers.

1. Build Up to an Event in Your Story

When readers describe a book as a page-turner, what they’re really describing is the Zeigarnik effect in storytelling at work—they’re anticipating something, and they can’t stop reading until they get answers.

This is why millions of people watch dating shows like The Bachelor and Love Is Blind—because they want to see which love interest gets selected, or if the couple ends up together. These shows are engineered to make people addicted to them because they’re designed to build up to a major event, like an engagement or a wedding.

So let’s apply that same principle to your story. What is your plot ultimately building toward? The clock in your story’s world should be ticking down toward some event where something consequential will happen, typically at the story’s climax. That’s how you build desperate anticipation and curiosity in your reader.

The event doesn’t have to be explosive, far-fetched, or out of left field, but it does have to matter deeply to your characters. Because if it matters to them, it will matter to us.

I was working with a best-selling author recently who was writing a story about people in the wine industry. The story followed restaurant owners, distributors, sommeliers, and servers, all tangled in juicy interpersonal drama. But the story was missing that ticking-clock element. So together, we created a big upcoming event—an exclusive industry gala where all the characters would be in the same room and their secrets would inevitably tumble out.

Suddenly, every scene leading up to that event felt more dynamic, had more tension, and was charged with an electric spark. Since the reader knows this event is on the horizon, we’re invested in seeing what happens when the characters get there.

Another author I worked with was writing a novel set in Florida, where a tragedy pulled a family apart. We amplified the suspense of the family drama by having a hurricane start brewing off the coast. The storm became a natural countdown. The closer it got, the more pressure the characters felt, and the more the reader was left on the edge of their seat, waiting to see what would happen when the storm finally arrived and everything blew apart.

The beauty is that this Zeigarnik effect storytelling technique works no matter what genre you’re writing. The point is to anchor your plot in a tangible event, then create an underlying current of momentum leading up to it—something that tells the reader, “Keep reading, because something big is coming.”

So once you choose your story’s central event, how do you ensure readers keep turning the pages to actually get there? That’s where this second technique comes in.

2. Craft Suspenseful Chapter Endings Using the Zeigarnik Effect

When I work with authors on their manuscripts, one of the most common issues I see is flat chapter endings. They’ll have an incredibly rich scene filled with great setting and conflict, but then end the chapter with something like, “And then she went home, exhausted by the day’s events.” With that, you’ve immediately sucked the life and energy out of the story.

If you want your book to be truly unputdownable, you have to treat every chapter ending as a mini cliffhanger. That doesn’t mean every chapter should end with someone screaming or gasping, “Oh my God!” because that will get cheesy fast. But you do need to leave something unresolved that leaves the reader hanging and wanting more.

Remember: the Zeigarnik effect in storytelling means that as soon as readers get closure, they forget. You want them thinking about your book nonstop until the end.

Think about the last show you binged. Why do we keep hitting “next episode,” even though it’s past midnight and we know we’ll regret it in the morning? Because each episode ends with something unfinished, and we hit that button desperately seeking resolution. That “next episode” button is the same thing as your chapter breaks.

Here’s a quick exercise you can do to audit your chapter endings. Go through your entire manuscript and look at the last paragraph of each chapter. Ask yourself: Is there a question lingering in the air? Is there a sense of anticipation or unease? Or does the energy just fizzle out?

For example, instead of closing with a line like, “She fell asleep, relieved that the chaos of the day had concluded,” you might try something like: “She tried to sleep, but her phone kept vibrating on the nightstand, blue light flickering in her periphery. When would he stop?”

It’s the exact same moment—the character is in bed—but the two endings bring completely different energy. Which one are you more likely to keep reading? With the first ending, you could probably close the book right there and forget about it. But with the second, you’re likely to turn the page to see if the person stops texting her.

And here’s a bonus tip. If you’re writing multiple POVs, you can use your chapter endings to strategically create suspense as you switch between storylines. If you end a chapter on a tense moment with character A, then switch to character B, you’re effectively making the reader wait for resolution on character A’s storyline. If you keep that pattern going throughout the novel, you’ll keep your reader hooked.

Suspenseful chapter endings are one of the most powerful applications of the Zeigarnik effect in storytelling.

But there’s one more Zeigarnik technique that ties all of this together—and it’s critical for every author to master.

3. Plant Chekhov’s Guns

The Russian playwright Anton Chekhov famously said, “If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise, don’t put it there.”

The concept is that everything you draw the reader’s attention to should have a purpose and ultimately some kind of payoff in the story. If you intentionally plant things in your story that will gain significance later on, you can use the Zeigarnik effect in storytelling to your advantage. When readers notice and pick up on these “guns,” they’ll want to keep reading to see them eventually go off.

These don’t have to be literal guns, of course. In fact, they don’t have to be physical objects at all.

A powerful Chekhov’s gun could be a character’s secret that we sense will inevitably spill out. If a story begins with a character’s first day at Harvard, and the character reveals they only got in because they bribed someone, we naturally wonder: When is that going to come out?

Or a Chekhov’s gun could be a character’s fear. If your character has an intense fear of water—like Chief Brody in Jaws—by drawing attention to it, you’re signaling to the reader that this fear will be tested later on. That subconsciously makes us want to keep reading to see how the character confronts it.

When you plant Chekhov’s guns effectively, and eventually set them off, it becomes one of the most satisfying experiences a reader can have. We finally get closure on something that’s been building throughout the story—something we noticed and thought, “I knew that was going to be important.”

If you use all three of these techniques together, you’ll be leveraging the full power of the Zeigarnik effect in storytelling to make your story unputdownable. By tapping into reader psychology, readers won’t even know why they keep turning the pages—but they’ll feel like they have to. That’s the highest compliment any author can get.