: Can Bridging Conflict Work When the Answer is Known? The title is a little vague, so allow me to explain my question in depth here. If someone can think of a better way to phrase the title,

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I think there's a danger in writing anything to tide the reader over. Especially in the opening, where readers don't yet know whether the story is worth their time.

That doesn't mean you have to start the story with the main conflict. But you have to get us caring about the characters, and you have to do that right away. A great way to do that is to give the character a problem, and let us see the character dealing with it.

It has to be a character we care about. And it has to be a problem that makes us care about the character.

So if you meant 'tides the reader over' the way I interpreted it, I think you're creating a problem for yourself. Instead, figure out a problem or conflict that will compel us to care about the character (or at least invite us to).

As for this particular bridge: If you put zombies in the title, or on the cover art, or in the back cover copy, you have to assume that readers know there are zombies.

If the reader already knows things, whether from the title or the back cover copy or a friend's raving about how awesome your zombie book is, you won't be able to distract readers from that in your opening. You told them that your book is a zombie thrill ride. Readers got on your zombie thrill ride because that's the kind of thrill they want right now.

Instead of trying to build a bridge to the zombie thing, consider featuring the zombies right from the start. Feature the thing that readers already know even before they open the book. Tell the readers about the zombies, but don't tell the characters. There's a term for when readers know things that the characters don't: Dramatic irony. (I wouldn't have called it that, but nobody asked me.)

One of the awesome things about dramatic irony is that can create suspense. You tell the readers about some nasty thing that the characters are walking into, and you don't tell the characters. Readers fear for the characters, who have no idea what they're walking into.

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Just because the reader knows the reason for the Bridging Conflict doesn't mean the characters will be able to overcome it.

In your example, even if the reader knows all the extra security measures are because of the Zombie Apocalypse, that doesn't mean that the zombies won't break through the security measures. In fact, it lends some extra tension. The reader may not wonder why the city is gated, but may now wonder if the zombies will break through the gate before the heroine has a chance to create the cure.

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