Every night I set up the coffee machine before heading upstairs for a date with the sandman. It starts brewing at 5:30 the next morning. I’m up at 5:45 or so whether I want to be or not. The reward is the hot cup of French Roast waiting for me downstairs.

The anticipation of the coffee is almost as enjoyable as the act of drinking it. Almost. But it is the pleasure of this fine elixir’s taste and the inevitable stimulation that heightens the anticipation. I like my coffee. I look forward to it. You may know the feeling. A semi-addiction? Probably. Am I looking to kick it any time soon? Hardly.

The best fiction, like that first cup of coffee, is filled with anticipation. The anticipation begins long before you sit down with the actual book or switch on your Kindle or Nook. If the book strikes you the way, say, The Eye of the Needle or Ordinary People did me the first time I read them, then the anticipation is inevitable. You can’t wait to get back to the book once the workday is over. Or maybe you even sneak in a few pages during the day when no one’s looking. That’s what a good story will do for you.

Then there is the actual reading experience. Anticipation is a writer’s best friend. The question “What’s going to happen next?” is what drives a reader from one page to the next. The jeopardy you create, the conflict you weave, the obstacles you instill: they relate to every situation and every relationship, good or bad. How will the characters react? How will they change? How will the story evolve? If you hook your readers with these, you’ll have them reaching for your book at the same time they’re pouring that first cup of coffee.