Many authors suggest using cliffhangers as incentive for readers to continue, but they also warn that this technique can anger readers who feel cheated when they learn they must wait longer for the satisfaction they’d been promised. Common advice seems to be to use them sparingly and only when you know what you’re doing. But how can you be sure when a cliffhanger is right?
Here’s the biggest difference between good and bad cliffhangers and as long as you keep it in mind, you’ll be able to use them at the end of every chapter if you want!
As with the Hook at the beginning of a story, readers keep reading because of anticipation. Get them to ask a specific question about what is going to happen and they’ll keep going until their anticipation is satisfied.
Bad cliffhangers bring the reader all the way up to the point of answering their question, but then go back on this promise. The reader is left wondering the same thing as they were before. They feel cheated, and rightly so. The first time this happens, they will probably keep reading anyway, but if this is a multiple offense or worse yet they’re being asked to purchase the next book in order to find out the answer to their question, they just might give up on your story. Why should they risk being cheated again?
A good cliffhanger, however, ends the scene by answering the reader’s question with a surprise, leaving the reader asking a new question than the one they were asking before.
Great examples of this can be found in The Hunger Games. Nearly every chapter ends by answering the question the story had been building up the whole time, but with a twist. Chapter one starts out with the the promise we will see the Reaping, but when a name is drawn from the girl’s bowl, it’s one we never considered was at risk. Right from the start, the reader has anticipation for the Reaping which keeps them reading until the end of the chapter, and when they get there, there’s no way they’re putting that book down!
Soap operas are also great at this, especially the British soap, Eastenders, particularly the episodes from the mid 2000s. I’m not a soap opera fan, but I got hooked from a single episode on PBS when nothing else was on. I just had to tune in again to see how each plot twist came out and before I knew it, I was there every weekend for the next four years. My entire week revolved my show, and when it was preempted for pledge drives, I didn’t think I’d survive the suspense. (Moral of the story: Don’t watch tv! It’ll waste away your life!)
Throwing in just anything unexpected at the end won’t do. It has to be something that the reader could have anticipated, but didn’t because they were focused on something else.
Remember to make a promise to your reader early on about what is coming later in the story, and then deliver on that promise with a twist!
Mystery and humor are a wonderful genres for this sort of slight of hand. The obvious suspect (or punchline), the one you’re probably keeping your eye on even though you know better, is never the culprit. In the end it comes out that the real bad guy has been right under our noses the whole time! This is an absolute must. Your surprise ending or plot twist cannot be something your reader would never have been able to foresee. It must be something that was subtly planted as a possibility, but then swept aside when the emphasis is put on other concerns.
In The Hunger Games, we know all along that Prim’s name is in the Reaping, but since Katniss has made sure it was entered only once and is so sure herself that her sister is not at risk, we believe her and instead share her concern for herself and Gale.
As long as you keep in mind the secret recipe for good cliffhangers, you can use them as much as you like to create addictive and surprising stories that will keep your readers coming back for more.
Leave a Reply