Inside Scoop

[10] Cliffhangers

What are your thoughts on Cliffhangers?

Vicky_Nfs: Fun to write, a pain to read.

Cliffhangers, I think they’re amazing to keep people interested, or rather curious, about a story. It’s the cliffhangers that keep me reading chapter after chapter when I’m reading a book. Every single time I’m reading, I tell myself I’m going to stop once I finish the chapter I am on, but over and over again I find myself reading the next chapter as well. And then when I’m at that chapter, again I decide to stop when I finish that one, but then the same happens and so on and on. I’m hopeless when it comes to putting a book aside when it has cliffhangers at the end of each chapter.

I don’t mind cliffhangers in a book not as much as the ones on Wattpad. That’s for the sole reason that in a book-book, you can read the next chapter right away whereas you have to wait when it’s a story you’re reading on Wattpad – unless it’s a finished story of course.

Cliffhangers are important, necessary even, but it’s not good either when there are too many of them. I know that I hate it when every single chapter ends with a cliffhanger.

Then there’s also the question of what a good cliffhanger is. To me, a good cliffhanger is one that keeps you wondering what will happen - but not like when a sentence just has been cut off, I really hate those endings. Throughout the whole chapter there’ll be this building up to something you really want to know, and then just when you think you’ll find out, it ends and you have to read the next chapter to find out – that’s a good cliffhanger to me. It’s also way better when a cliffhanger isn’t just put there because the author wanted to end with a cliffhanger. I think you can see a reasonable difference between the cliffhangers that have use, and the ones that are only there because the author thinks it’ll keep the readers more interested.

Personally, I like to add a cliffhanger to my stories as well, because sometimes it just makes the story more interesting. Sometimes a chapter just ‘begs’ for a cliffhanger and it wouldn’t be fair not to add it. Plus, I think it’s always fun to read the comments to a chapter that ends with a cliffhanger – even when it’s not my story.

To tell it in short, cliffhangers can be useful and are necessary from time to time, but I’d rather not read them when I know I’ll have to wait for the next chapter – I’m just impatient like that when it comes to reading.

Emmiie: Key to intensity

I love them; they are the “key” to any intense story.

Well, really I love making them, hate reading them…

Maybe “hate” is too strong of a word? What I meant is that it can get rather frustrating (but in a good “I can’t wait for more” kind of way). Nothing is worse than when you are getting into a book and the author leaves you at a MASSIVE cliffhanger…kind of like those annoying ones at the end of an episode *coughTheVampieDiariescough* and you’re just itching for the next chapter but have no other choice than to wait patiently.

Personally, I think cliffhangers are a MUST. They are what hook your readers, and make people want more. But at the same time, I guess constant usage of cliffhangers can get quite annoying, so it depends on the severity. I mean, there are casual cliffhangers, like: will (insert name here) say yes, and go with Guy to the dance? Then there are the more intense ones like: will so and so DIE? Find out in the next chapter!

Obsessive use of “intense” cliffhangers, and threatening to kill off beloved characters, then making readers wait a month to find out whether they survived (unless it’s a thriller or a horror story) might aggravate your readers. Eventually people may grow tired of the repetitive worrying that their favourite character might die, so I think these types of cliffhangers should be used wisely – because the whole point of a cliffhanger is to leave your reader on the edge of their seat, not to give them a heart attack.

In my opinion, you only really need two—maybe three—intense cliffhangers throughout a story. One near the start to get your readers interested, then another near the climax or highpoint of the story, and maybe one near the middle - just because you can. But in saying that, I’m a person who LOVES cliffhangers (using them, mainly, though reading about them is fun also—I’m just not that patient. Lol). So personally I don’t think you can ever “overuse” them…so long as you spice things up and make each cliffhanger unique.

Leigh19: Essential

A cliffhanger is defined as a melodramatic adventure serial in which each installment ends in suspense in order to interest the reader or viewer in the next installment.

I've always understood what the word was in reference to but to have the actual definition of the word makes expressing my thoughts on this easier. As a reader I have a love/hate relationship with cliffhangers. There's nothing more exciting and suspenseful than a cliffhanger, I find that when I'm reading I won't want to put the book down because it gives you the "has to know what happens next" anticipation that pushes you to read forward. A story without cliffhangers has no real climax and no offense but where's the fun in reading a story without the rise and fall.

Anyone that's read my writing knows I'm a cliffhanger addict. I have this horrible need to throw in curve-balls, but any good writer knows that to maintain a healthy eventful story that they need cliffhangers. However throwing in too many cliffhangers can make your story too over the top and extremely overwhelming and people will fall behind or lose interest.  I'm not sure what a healthy amount of cliffhangers in a story is to be honest, but personally so long as there's enough story line and spacing between each of them where the reader can still keep up without wondering what the heck happened then you're good. Another reason I love feedback on wattpad, you can tell how well readers are reacting to your story by their feedback. Obviously if nobody is making sense of your story and there's too much or the opposite and not enough is happening than it's a good indication of what you’re lacking.

In the end, after all my rambling, the point I was trying to make is that Cliffhangers are essential so long as it's not overdone.