Hooks, Seeds, and Promises

Fiction writers have one job: entertainment. Teleport the reader to another plane of existence through their imagination. Build an emotional roller coaster. That is what the reader of a fiction novel signs up for.  

The opening pages of the novel are the most important, as is how you land at the end. Hooks offer exciting questions that inspire the reader to find out more. 

Seed expectations, thread information, so that when something does happen the reader doesn't feel like they are taken by surprise. Give them a puzzle and solve it with them. There is a reason why Sherlock Holmes is generally told though the point of view of Watson. If you simply state the answer then there is no mystery and no fun of solving it. You can obfuscate the obvious with additional non-relevant (but still relevant to your story) information, or how heavily you highlight something.

Which leads me to red herrings. The general idea is the strong scent of a 'red herring' will throw a dog off of the trail of a fox. It throws a wrench in the storytelling by leading questions in the wrong direction. Use red herrings wisely, trying to solve a problem with blatantly false information will only frustrate the reader.

Promises are made by characters actions or dialogue make sure to identify then fulfill, invalidate, or leave unresolved (only if you have a good reason). That leads me to Checkov's gun. When you place an item in a scene such as a gun the promise is that it will be used at some point. Especially if it is highlighted. This of course with any writing 'rule' is more of a guideline than a 'you can never do this' law.