RomanceEverAfter

The Writing Craft

T.A. Stone

We invited Todd to share his expertise in a wide range of writing craft issues.

Also, check out his article Are You A Candidate for e-Publishing? in our Business Issues for Writers in The Writing Craft category.

Topics Discussed by T.A. Stone

Writing cliffhangers
What does Todd enjoy about the writing process?
Dealing with writer's block
3 mistakes novice writers make

How to hang your reader off a cliff—repeatedly.

One technique for increasing tension and quickening pace in a work of fiction is to end chapters with a "cliffhanger." Taken from movie scenes in which the viewer sees the hero or heroine dangling over the edge of cliff and then that same viewer is suddenly taken away to another scene, cliffhangers help keep readers’ attention focused on what will happen next, and keep them turning pages to find out.

What are the essential elements of a cliffhanger? 

First, some body. That is, an individual person important to the story, preferably a lead character (hero, heroine, or villain) or sympathetic character. The focus here is on an individual person, not a thing or masses (although animals work too).

Second, a near-future action, with consequences, that may or may not happen. There must be an element of uncertainty to this action, it must affect the character in some significant way, and the reader must feel like the action will happen just-about-almost-any-second-now.

Third, the action is interrupted. The reader sees the setup. The reader infers or understands the potential consequences. The reader understands the sense of urgency and immediacy. The reader anticipates an answer, but the writer does not give it to them—immediately, anyway. The reader must go to the next chapter, or even the chapter after that, to find out what happens.

So how do you hang your readers off a cliff? There are many techniques, but authors may find these three especially useful.

First, change the way you think about scenes or chapters. We like to think of chapters as a story of cause and effect--starting with a setup and ending with a payoff. Instead, begin your chapters or scenes with the payoff from the previous chapter or scene, and end it with a setup for the next chapter or scene. This can be as simple as cutting and pasting a paragraph or a page, or may require significant rewriting. Note that you can always leverage the power of the word processor to draft one way and then revise another (copy, cut, and paste has its merits).

Second, don’t be afraid to move your scenes around to make the reader wait for the payoff. Let’s say John must see Susan before 5:00 to save the farm from foreclosure. We end the chapter with protagonist John looking at his watch. It’s 4:55, and Susan is across town. Turning the page to the next chapter, the reader expects to see John racing to find Susan. However, as a wily author, you have a chapter/scene about something else—subplot, back story, different point of view—anything but John finding Susan.

Third, consider editing the sentences at the end of your scene or chapter so that they are shorter, simpler, and move faster. This picks up the pace of the reading, and as that pace gets faster and faster the reader will anticipate a payoff. They’ll turn the page to find it.

Novices often attempt to induce a cliffhanger by asking, or having their characters ask, rhetorical questions. "Would John find Susan in time?" or "Will I find her in time to save the farm?" As a generally rule, a writer should avoid these. If the writer must ask such a question, have a character ask it of another character, then do not answer!

Chapter or scene-end cliffhangers improve tension, increase suspense, and quicken pace. They are useful tools that experienced writers in any genre can employ to keep readers turning pages.

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