Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG
and hashtag is #IWSG
The awesome co-hosts for the December 4 posting of the IWSG are Ronel, Deniz, Pat Garcia, Olga Godim, and Cathrina Constantine!
The IWSG question for Dec. 4, 2024 is:
Do you write cliffhangers at
the end of your stories?
Are they a turn-off to you as
a writer and/or a reader?
I have never ended a story with a cliffhanger and am not a fan of cliffhangers as a reader. Even Kathy Reichs’ endless “cliffhanger” chapter endings were irritating to me because they felt so contrived.
Recently I read a C.J. Box “Joe
Pickett” novel that ended with a main character’s plotline ending in a
cliffhanger. The continuing plotline obviously required a novel of its own to
tell the story and I had the next book already on the shelf so was not faced
with a long wait. (And, after all, it was C.J. Box!) However, several reviewers
were not so forgiving.
These days my writing is confined to researching and composing short stories - with no cliffhangers. And soon after the start of the Covid era, I began binge-reading series novels that have a beginning, middle, and satisfying ending in each book – again, no cliffhangers. But authors who choose to use the cliffhanger technique to keep their fans interested and returning for more are aware of the success of cliffhanger endings in serial stories of olden-day newspaper weeklies and radio presentations. And their willing fans are aware of each cliffhanger, a win-win relationship of their choosing.
*****
Yup, if it a week series, cliffhangers work! But novel, I don't like them there.
ReplyDeleteI agree, H.R. It's fun to imagine the radio days of old when cliffhangers were discussed all week until the next installment. Maybe a forerunner to tv soaps.
ReplyDeleteIf the next book can be read immediately, I don't mind a cliffhanger. But if I have to wait years for a resolution, not so much.
ReplyDeleteRonel visiting for IWSG day Over and Done With. An Author’s Year in Review 2024
Agree, Ronel. Plots should always have a resolution although while life story of the protagonist continues.
DeleteCliffhangers are not for me. I once read a book that ended not only on a cliffhanger but in the middle of a scene. It was extremely dissatisfying. Otherwise, I thought it was a decent book. I would've kept reading that author if not for that horrible cliffhanger. I still feel offended by it, after more than a year. As you can guess, I never opened another book by that writer again.
ReplyDeleteMakes you wonder what the author was thinking, or maybe not thinking.
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