How to Wield Narrative Drive to Make a Propulsive Story as a Fiction Writer
Recently, I was a guest on The Fiction Lounge podcast with Hannah Magness and Jessica Collins. (Had a great time, and I highly recommend you give the entire podcast a listen).
We were chatting about the things new writers struggle to harness, and one of the first things I said was: narrative drive.
I’d also done several developmental edits over the summer and guess what the main issue was in every single manuscript? Yep. Narrative drive. Or rather, the lack of it.
Narrative drive is what makes readers invest in a character’s plight and keeps them turning the pages to find out what happens next. It’s a mix of story momentum, character motivation, emotional investment, plot and information management, and reader curiosity and concern.
It’s a tough thing to learn to wield, but knowledge and practice are the keys to the kingdom so let’s break it down. ⤵️
Before We Talk Narrative Drive, Let’s Talk Character, Conflict, and Change
In order to understand narrative drive, we have to look at how character development and conflict work together to create change—because change is the heartbeat of a story.
What is a story, if not one big global change, delivered through the accumulation of micro-changes? The main character’s external and internal drive—what they want, what they fear, what they care about—is what pushes the story forward. That comes from who they are, what they believe, and what they value.
Now, you don’t need to know everything about your character before you start writing. Many writers discover who their characters are as they draft. But eventually, you’ll need to circle back and define:
What does your character want—and why?
What do they value, care about, fear, desire?
What’s motivating all of that?
Character development is foundational. For me, it always comes first—it drives everything else. And it’s okay if it takes a few drafts (or more) to get clear on who these folks are.
I’m a big fan of the way Michael Hauge and Robert McKee break it down ⤵️
Start with who the character is on the outside—how they present to the world and explore what vulnerability that persona is protecting. How do they start the story? How do they end? What did their journey teach them about living this messy human experience?
Did they change or did the world around them change because they stayed the same?
If there’s no meaningful change either in the character or the world, there’s no story.
Change is born out of conflict.
Think of it like Newton’s First Law, but for storytelling; an object at rest will stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force strong enough to overcome inertia.
So characters won’t change unless they’re forced, which brings us back to narrative drive…
What Is Narrative Drive, Really?
Narrative drive is a natural extension of character and conflict. It’s the force that keeps readers asking:
“What’s going to happen next?”
But there’s more to it and we’re going to talk about that in a moment.
When you lose the narrative drive, you lose the reader’s curiosity and concern—two essential ingredients for engagement. Without it, the story stalls. The pacing drags. And the reader might put the book down.
As Robert McKee puts it:
“Narrative drive is the side effect of the mind’s engagement with the story.”
So really, narrative drive is about the relationship between the reader, the story, and the storyteller.
It boils down to what I call the three C’s:
Curiosity
Concern
Control of Information
When these three work together, they build expectation and anticipation—which gives your story forward momentum.
Let’s Break That Down
1. Curiosity
This is the intellectual hook. You make the reader wonder. You plant questions they want answers to. Big questions—like who murdered the victim, will the main character defeat the bad person, will the lovers make it work— should take time to answer. Smaller questions should be answered more quickly.
The payoff should always feel organic to the character and the plot.
👉 Ask: What am I making the reader wonder about?
2. Concern
This is the emotional hook. Readers don’t need to like your characters, but they do need to care what happens to them and understand where they’re coming from.
You create concern by giving readers context—what your character values, fears, believes, desires, and why. Don’t hold back on emotional context. It’s what makes the stakes real and allows the reader to understand what is motivating your character’s behavior.
👉 Ask: What am I making the reader feel? Have I given the reader enough insight into my character’s emotions and decision making process for them to understand the action being taken and anticipate what might happen next?
3. Control of Information
How fast or slow you reveal information controls the tension and suspense—two closely related terms in fiction but not the same. You can read more about the difference between suspense and tension and how to wield them in this article.
If you plant a big story question and answer it too soon, your story will fizzle and fall flat.
If you delay payoff for too long when your character could reasonably be investigating the answers or should put two and two together already, you’ll have a frustrated reader.
Neither is a good situation.
👉 Ask: Am I rewarding reader curiosity in a way that builds momentum?
This is the hardest part to learn. But genre can help.
For example, a thriller will have a fast pace with tightly controlled reveals. A romance might slow-burn emotional connection while teasing plot twists. A historical or literary novel might take its time but still layer tension through subtext and emotional stakes.
How to Build Narrative Drive in Your Story
Some practical tips:
Start with a character who wants something badly (a goal) and has the means and motive to go after it (or avoid it). This gives your character agency (the ability and desire to affect change in their life.)
Create meaningful conflict (triggering conflict) to your character’s goals. Make them make tough choices to pursue what they want. If they could say no to the choice in front of them and nothing happens—there’s zero consequence—rework it, because this is not a story.
Show why the character values what they do, either in dialogue, with action, or through interiority (thoughts/feelings). This gives weight to their choices and consequences.
Plant story questions—and pay them off in a way that continually builds tension and maybe more suspense. Think: I’ve answered this question, but that answer makes the reader ask an even bigger question, which all builds to a single realization for the character (and reader) after a few pages or chapters.
Use cause and effect to link your scenes: Because this [event, emotion, realization, action, or behavior] happened, then this happened (another event, emotion, action, realization, or behavior) vs. and then this independent thing occurred … and then this independent thing occurred.
Use this cause-and-effect chain within your scenes too, not just between them. Story is action and reaction.
Most importantly: step back and ask:
“What is my reader anticipating right now?”
Study the Books That Make You Say WOW
One of the best ways to learn how to wield narrative drive is to study the stories that do it well. Go grab a book in your genre that made you say, “Holy hell, this was amazing,” and highlight the crap out of it.
Ask yourself:
What’s the character’s goal?
What are the stakes?
What conflict are they facing?
What choices do they have to make?
What story questions get planted along the way?
How does the author make me care?
What makes me worry for the character?
What makes me wonder what’ll happen next?
How does the author control the flow of information?
Takeaway
Keep your reader worried about your character and curious about what happens next in a way that allows them to anticipate what might happen–then surprise them. Build tension through cause and effect. Pay off your story questions with intention. And remember:
Readers don’t want to be bystanders—they want to be participants.
Make them wonder. Make them worry. And make them stay.
