The cliffhanger is regarded as one of the most effective and often most difficult to achieve literary devices that enthralls readers across all genres. The reality of a good cliffhanger, however, is relatively simple once you understand the formula for it.
Cliffhanger endings typically fall into one of two categories:
The main character comes into contact with a dangerous, often deadly, situation.
A shocking reveal threatens to alter the course of the narrative.
However, scenes have these kinds of high-drama scene writing without being a cliffhanger all the time. So, what sets the cliffhanger apart?
Timing of a Cliffhanger
Though not exclusively the case, it’s worth mentioning that a cliffhanger is most effective either in the third act of a story or just before it. The third act of a book is typically a faster pace than the first two overall, and a cliffhanger really accentuates it. It makes for a great way to kick off that mad dash to the finish line.
Also worth noting is how many cliffhangers a narrative can support. Over the course of an average-length book, you can effectively employ multiple cliffhangers. But this phenomenon in particular requires a lot of a reader’s energy. So, it’s possible to write in too many and exacerbate reader fatigue and loose them. How many that is depends upon your story’s length, genre and your authorial voice, but definitely expect to put a good handful of scenes between them to build reader connection.
Structure of a Cliffhanger
So it’s likely you already know scene structure well enough to know that, like a whole book, it must have a beginning, middle and end but not necessarily in that order. To take it to a further degree, a scene must have exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and a resolution again not necessarily in that order.
How a cliffhanger differs is that it cuts right at the climax. We see our characters confronted with the big moment of the scene, but there is a chapter break before we get to see their reaction, response, or any other falling action or resolution. It is a reader’s natural understanding of story and need for a resolution of any kind that works as a psychological trick to desperately grasp at the next chapter even if the resolution ends up being relatively ho-hum.
Because of this cut off, there is one other change to your next scene’s structure: the resolution of a cliffhanger scene must act as the exposition of the following one. You may not even show readers what happens directly after the cliffhanger, but the beginning of your next scene (in that particular storyline) must be a direct consequence of it. Usually this looks like a chapter ending and the next beginning at that same moment in time, but it doesn’t have to.
Quick Tips to Write a Good Cliffhanger Scene
Start Off Strong
Create a sense of urgency right at the beginning of your scene.
Consider dropping your reader right in the middle of a scene rather than the beginning and use their initial confusion to build tension.
Keep Your Characters Close
Keep exposition and your characters’ thoughts on their sensory experience to keep readers on edge.
Use a pulse to keep tension. A literary pulse can be pretty versatile to fit in your story: - A mantra the character uses to keep their head throughout the scene - A metaphorical clock counting down in their head. - An animal that continually crosses their path. - A literal clock chiming throughout the scene.
Have a question on your POV character’s mind that they will stop at nothing to have answered.
Leverage Staccato Pacing
Keep sentences and paragraphs relatively short and easy to read.
Hasten dialogue. - No monologues with exception being the villain. - No wonderings.
The closer you grow to the cliffhanger, the more staccato the prose should get.
Cliffhangers are a big win for authors in their ability to grab reader attention. But they can be difficult to pull off even with good tips. If your cliffhanger still isn’t ringing true, working with a book coach can help you workshop an individual scene. However, the most effective cliffhangers come from a slowly building story on a large scope that come to a head. For a more comprehensive story that will bring your audience to the edge of their seat, a developmental edit may be in order.
Comments