Story Is Internal

Story is internal, not external.
If the reader is not feeling what the protagonist feels, the reader won’t keep reading.
Everything that happens in a story NEEDS to affect the protagonist. If it doesn’t affect the protagonist, it doesn’t trigger emotion, and so remains neutral to your reader.
The reader’s understanding is important as we share the protagonist’s thoughts when their expectations are being met or not being met. If your reader doesn't understand, they have no emotional investment.

Perspective

• First-person thoughts and expectations must be woven into everything. The protagonist draws conclusions about everything they mention, down to the smallest detail. Everything they mention inherently pertains to the story they are telling and to the point they're making. They never, NEVER mention something “just because”, or objectively describe things.
• Second-person narration a rarely used technique in which the action is driven by a character ascribed to the reader, one known as "you". The reader is immersed into the narrative as a character involved in the story. The narrator describes what "you" do and lets you into your own thoughts and background. Again, nothing is ever mentioned without purpose, or objectively described. Everything brought to "your" attention is important and causes some reaction from "you".
• Third-person, the narrator shares reactions, avoids dialogue tags, and doesn’t need to use quotation marks and italics to convey the thoughts and conclusions of the protagonist. The trick is to seamlessly slip out of the neutral narrator’s voice and into the character's very subjective point of view . If done well, it’s invisible.

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Recommended Book

Here is an Amazon Affiliate Link, my friend. This book is filled with finished short stories (no cliff hangers) from different perspectives and points of view. They all do a great job of keeping the readers hooked by keeping them emotionally invested in the character's success or failure. There's suspense and romance, action and humor, and loads of character growth in a tiny package. I highly recommend you click the image and check it out and dissect the stories.