The Cliffhanger: The way to Write a Story Your Readers Can't Put Down
Do you have a favorite cliffhanger? If you publish your texts there for others to read, you also want your readers to turn the pages until the end.
Would you like your story to be non-writable but not sure how to do it?
It's no secret that the tried and true method of using cliffhanger at the end of your chapters or scenes is a surefire way to achieve this. What many writers fail to realize, however, is that the cliffhanger end is only half the battle.
The cliffhanger is that hook This will make the reader turn the page, but if you don't have a solid one line Support over the gap and a Sinker This will pull them deep into the next scene or chapter. Your fish will likely squirm and swim away.
The other half
The cliffhanger at the end of a chapter is your hook, and the beginning of the next chapter is the sinker. Done right, they create a connection line for the reader and move them smoothly from one to the other.
The key to making this connection lies in properly structuring the cliffhanger and having your reader solidly grounded in the following scene. That means immediately orienting them and pulling them deep down, like a sinker on a fishing line.
The scene after a cliffhanger means a jump to another character's POV or a clock change or a different take. It is important that you pull your reader deeply into the new situation with the first paragraph.
The best way to do this is to quickly set up POV using the specific details outlined in my article on Point of View Magic.
Raise your awareness
The cliffhanger wheel has already been invented. As writers, we need to figure out how to use the power of the wheel in our own writing. The trick to this is awareness and practice.
How do we become more aware of cliffhanging? We read.
I once learned from Kristine Kathryn Rusch how to read like a writer. She and her husband, writer Dean Wesley Smith, insist that if you want to learn how to write well, you must read first like a reader.
We are all readers first. It is our love of reading that made us write.
So when we read a book, we should look at it as readers, paying attention to the features and details that readers notice and appreciate.
Then, after this You finish a book that you particularly liked, go back and study it, focusing on certain aspects that you admired about it. One of these aspects should be the cliffhanger.
Learn how to analyze the different types and how the author used them to grab the reader's attention and move them to the next scene.
How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
We all know the answer is practice, and that is what The Write Practice is all about. One way to practice cliffhanger skills and add them to your author's toolbox is to use the exercises Dean called "input".
Take the book you enjoyed as a reader and identify the cliffhangers that dragged you through the story. Then enter them in manuscript format, just as the original author did long ago.
In this way the technology is integrated into your “front brain”, your more conscious, analytical processing center. But with repetition and practice, these skills get into your "back brain" where you automatically refer to them as you write your stories.
You won't copy the words, but you will emulate the methods of successful writers.
The hook
There are many types of cliffhangers, and the scope of this article just skims the surface. A few years ago I took an online cliffhanger course with Dean (you can sign up for an archived version of the class here). Most of what I share in this post I learned from him.
I'm going to cover some of the basics of cliffhangers and look at four types that we can use in our writing: Hazard Cuts, Power Outages, Character-Based, and Emotional. I will use many examples from books and films. So watch out for that big SPOILER ALERT!
6 Cliffhanger Basics
What Makes Cliffhanger So Powerful? How do they keep us on the edge of our seats and turn the pages frantically? Check out these six cliffhanger basics to find out how the magic works.
1. The wave
The plot of a story has ups and downs like waves, and each character has its own wave. Cliffhangers often occur at the peak or bottom of these ups and downs.
Think about how an event can affect the balance in favor of one character and at the same time mean the fate of another character.
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Use a character's highest or lowest low as a cliffhanger to get your readers to turn the pages.
2. The layer effect
Cliffhangers can work on several levels. Often times, if you rely solely on physical cliffhangers that only hit a single story cylinder, these will go thin. Which is fine every now and then, but you'll want to avoid a bunch of thin cliffhangers.
Combine different types of cliffhangers for greater impact. More on this below.
3. The setup
Make sure everything is in place for the cliffhanger to work.
Example: Steve and Carly are trapped in a haunted house and are going through a harrowing near-death scratch. They eventually escape and run to the car, ready to get to safety.
Cliffhanger: Carly notices that the keys are in her purse, which she left while searching a closet in the house.
Make sure the reader knows where the wallet is in advance but has forgotten it. Like Carly.
4. The overshoot
Be careful not to write past the cliffhanger. Look for the best point in a scene, cut it out there, and jump to the next scene.
It can be easy to miss, and writing past a cliffhanger will weaken the effect and disappoint the reader.
5. The kicker line
Use the power of a kicker line – a short sentence or two that feels like a punch in the gut. This is a great incentive to get readers to turn the page.
6. The jump cut
For a cliffhanger to really work, you need to jump away and start the next scene with a different point of view or a time lapse or in a different setting.
4 types of cliff hangers
Where should you pause your story to get the maximum cliffhanger effect? Combine these four types of cliffhangers to make readers turn the pages.
Danger cut
This is what everyone thinks of when they hear the word cliffhanger. It's kind of like a physical cliffhanger as it sounds: push your character off a cliff and let them dangle from a thin branch that splinters under their weight. How To Use This Cliffhanger:
- Find the point of greatest danger and cut the action there.
- Do not solve immediately. Switch to a different character, time, or setting.
- If you come back to resolve the situation, you make it worse.
I pulled books off my shelves to find examples. For this I used Whiteout by Ken Follett:
Kit stole some deadly biosamples from his father's research lab to sell to a group of terrorists. A huge winter storm closes roads and isolates Kit, his accomplices, members of the laboratory security team, and the family who have gathered for the holidays. There is a battle for high stakes. Just as it seems like the good guys might have the upper hand, Kit shows up and turns the page again.
Kit's voice rang out: "Nobody moves!"
Toni whirled around and aimed the gun. Kit was in the doorway. He didn't have a gun, but he was holding a simple glass perfume spray like it was a gun. Toni recognized the bottle she had seen on the security video and which was filled with Madoba-2.
Kit said, “This contains the virus. A splash will kill you. "
Everyone stood still.
Because it is a physical (and therefore visual) maneuver, it is often used in movies. I bet you can think of dozens of movie and television samples. The Walking Dead is full of it.
blackout
This is the case when the Point of View character loses consciousness – faints, is drugged or poisoned, hit over the head, or even killed. The screen usually goes black, and you can often think of it that way as you write. How To Use This Cliffhanger:
- Make sure you jumped forward in time when you get back to this character.
- Get back to the situation pretty soon. If you let it sit too long, readers will forget and it will be difficult to stage wake-up scenes.
- When you get back, immediately ground your reader in the area and answer questions about how the character survived the power outage and what happened in the elapsed time.
- If your point of view character dies, there must be other characters to carry the story unless that is the ending.
The book I used for this example is Kate Mosse & # 39; s Labyrinth:
Alais carries, hidden in her person, a package of the utmost importance – a book that contains information that will either save or destroy the world, depending on whose hands it is in. She is alone and travels through the dark forests only as someone her father would trust as a courier.
There was malice in the dark, she could smell it, feel it. Alais walked faster, sure she was being followed now. She could hear the faint shuffling of her feet and the sound of heavy breathing.
"Who's there?" She called.
Without warning, a rough, calloused hand that reeked of beer was held over her mouth. She screamed when she felt a sudden, sharp blow on the back of her head and fell.
It seemed to take a long time to reach the bottom. Then hands crawled over them like rats in a basement until they found what they wanted.
"Aqui it." Here it is.
It was the last Alais heard before the darkness closed over her.
For a film example, consider the scene on the train on The Prisoner of Azkaban where the Dementor steals Harry Potter's life until he turns black. This is also an example of layering. The Harry Potter cliffhanger uses elements of the danger section and the plot reveals guys to make it even stronger.
Character based
There are three sub-categories that I'm going to talk about here.
The character reveals: When the cliffhanger reveals something significant about a character.
For example, think of the scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid where they jump off the cliff into the raging river. Kid doesn't want it and throws out all sorts of excuses as to why they shouldn't until Butch accuses him of being scared of jumping. Kid denies it, but admits he can't swim. This reveals something about his character and adds a whole new level of danger to the situation.
The plot reveals: This is the case when the cliffhanger reveals a plot point that has a big impact. For example the example I gave above with Steve, Carly, the wallet, the keys and the haunted house.
Reveal to the reader: This type of cliffhanger alerts the reader while the characters stay in the dark and creates a nice piece of dramatic irony.
Ira Levin's tense novel, A Kiss Before Dying, is a Dilly when it lets the reader know who the killer is two-thirds of the way through the book and we see it dig its insidious way into the lives of the other characters who no idea.
As an example that also appears in a movie, remember the scene in The Hunger Games when Katniss climbed a tree to spend the night and wondered what happened to Peeta?
An unfortunate tribute makes a fire nearby and Katniss watches as the brutal faction murders the girl and sets up camp under Katniss' tree. She listens to their conversation and is shocked to hear Peeta's voice among them explaining that he intends to finish off someone they tried to kill earlier.
This is a surprising, if misleading, revelation.
Emotionally
This is the most common type of cliffhanger, and they are often subtle but very effective. They make the reader turn the page, although they probably can't tell why. When using an emotional cliffhanger, keep the following in mind:
- The emotion can come from the main character, or another character the reader.
- Any emotion can act as a cliffhanger.
- Ground the reader firmly in the mind of the point of view character using POV magic. If you don't, the emotion can seem ridiculous.
- The emotion can occur on a non-viewpoint character, and the cliffhanger belongs to the viewpoint character opinion in relation to the emotion being expressed.
As a film example, let's return to Katniss, this time at the end of Catching Fire after Gage informed her that District 12 was destroyed. The camera approaches her face and we see the despair and agony in her tearful eyes wanting to let us know what will happen next.
A few last words
The best way to pull off a successful cliffhanger is to be aware of what the reader wants. Study genre conventions and, as a reader, think about what you want.
Readers long for answers to their story questions and keep scrolling to get them, but expect when they will need the information and give it to them before they get tired of it.
I believe in order to be the best writer you can be, you must serve your reader.
What types of cliffhangers do you enjoy reading? How does the author bridge the gap to the next scene? Do share what you discover in the comments section.
WORK OUT
For today's practice, you have two options.
1. The challenge of typing
When I was in Dean Wesley Smith's cliffhanger class, he gave typing assignments and instructed us to find book examples of the different types of cliffhangers and type them into manuscript format. Then we should write a brief analysis of why the cliffhanger works and describe the opening of the following scene. I pass the challenge on to you.
Turn to your bookshelf and find a cliffhanger in a book you read. If you're not sure where to start, Harry Potter and The Hunger Games are full of cliffhangers.
Then identify an example of a hazard cut, blackout, character-based or emotional cliffhanger and re-enter it on your computer.
After entering it, analyze it. Why did it work? How did the opening of the following chapter attract you?
2. Write your own cliffhanger
You don't have a book filled with cliffhangers at hand? Try to write your own. Use characters from your work in progress or try this prompt: Jane snuck through the castle when. . .
Practice for fifteen minutes whether re-typing a published cliffhanger or creating your own. Then post your analysis / writing practice in the comments section. And when you post, be sure to provide feedback for your co-writers!
Joslyn Chase
