: Re: How to keep the reader engaged in a novel where "not much happens"? (Hope I don't get an answer like this). I'm writing a novel where "not much happens," instead, it focuses on things that

@Debbie451

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"Something happening" doesn't have to be earth-shaking. If the character wakes up, something "happened." It's been a long time since I read it, but in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch, about a prisoner in a gulag, nothing much "happens." He doesn't escape or get sprung from prison. He doesn't die or fall in love. But it's still a powerful book.

If your character wants to do something and is thwarted by some obstacle, there's your plot. That's something "happening." The obstacle can be internal or external. The character can try or not try. The character can succeed or fail. But if there's conflict, there's plot.

So if your story is building up to something big happening by means of many little things happening along the way, there's nothing wrong with that.

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