Writing lesson - loose ends.

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No matter how good your prose or how realistic your characters are the quickest way to assure a reader never wants to read another of your stories is by leaving loose ends. Those annoying little events or facts left unanswered in your story. This is where having more friends and family to read your manuscript before publishing comes in handy. Rule one is don't have them tell you in person what they think; people by nature want to please especially face to face, so instead have them write down any critique. Ask them to write down the top 5 questions they still have after reading the story. These are your loose ends and the more people who have the same questions then bigger the lose end. Editing needs to work to answer these questions or at least let the reader know why there is still question.