Welcome to the first Wednesday of the month. You know what that means! It's time to let our insecurities hang out. Yep, it's the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop. If you're a writer at any stage of career, I highly recommend this blog hop as a way to connect with other writers for support, sympathy, ideas, and networking. If you're a reader, it's a great way to peek behind the curtain of a writing life.
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!
December 4 question - Do you write cliffhangers at the end of your stories? Are they a turn-off to you as a writer and/or a reader?
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The only series I've written so far (recently finished! hurray!) is the Menopausal Superheroes. In writing it, I used some tropes, abandoned others, and tried to twist still others. I wanted the books to feel like what they are--superhero stories--but to also be their own thing, so that was sometimes a delicate dance.
Cliffhangers are bread and butter in superhero stories--going as far back as the oldest comic books and movie serials with superpowered characters.
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I know some readers hate cliffhangers, feeling that they are a manipulation designed to pull them into the next book. That can be true, but sometimes, they are genre expectation and the best way to tell a story.
The end of the first book has been described as a cliffhanger by some (usually by folks who don't like cliffhangers). If you read my reviews of that first book, people who don't love it almost universally complain that it ended in a cliffhanger.
I don't think it exactly is…my heroes had met their primary goal, and the next problem presented itself immediately. That fits the comic book feel of it to me. True that it wasn't all wrapped up…but no was left in the middle of an immediate crisis. Heroes seldom get to enjoy or celebrate their wins for long--there's always another fight looming.
That said, the second, third, and fourth books end more fully than that first one. So maybe I came around to what some of my readers were saying. We'll find out next summer if they like what I've done with the fifth and final book in the series--coming to you in summer 2025 from Falstaff Books!
For myself as a reader, it's a case by case scenario. Some cliffhangers feel organic to the story and others just feel like tacked-on manipulations. So some I love, and some frustrate me. I don't think there's a right answer to this one. You gotta do what's right for each story.
And, yes, a cliffhanger is a tactic to drive readers to pick up the next book in a series. Done well, it's no more manipulative than writing engaging characters, leaving a question unanswered, or showing an assumption about what's happened might be mistaken. I don't think writers are doing anything wrong if they work some curious and tension-building techniques in to pull a reader through a whole series. That's just good story telling (and a little business sense).
So, what do y'all think? Cliffhangers, yea or no? Why?
I agree with you that cliffhangers do have their place and are expected in some genres, like superheroes and fantasies.
ReplyDeleteIt's all about context, for sure.
DeleteI still remember saying (with the narrator): Same bat time; same bat channel. Or something close. hehehe
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit of a crybaby when it comes to being left hanging. A quick solution would be... for those of you than really, really need to know, read this post, the next two pages, whatever. But don't break the trust. I don't read authors that do that.
Anna from elements of emaginette
I've often thought it would also be good to do a "last time on…" intro to each book after the first one.
DeleteSounds like you merely opened the door to a new adventure, not jumped through it, so that's an okay cliffhanger and not the kind that will drive one insane until the next book drops :-) Happy holidays!
ReplyDeleteRonel visiting for IWSG day Over and Done With. An Author’s Year in Review 2024
That's what I was going for.
DeleteWhen you say: "... my heroes had met their primary goal, and the next problem presented itself immediately ..." it doesn't suggest a cliffhanger to me. It feels more like a teaser for the next book.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I was going for. But, some readers called it a cliffhanger. Interpretation, I guess. It's tricky because I have crossover readers--some find me through women's fiction, others through superhero. And the expectations are quite different.
DeleteI like the idea of the primary goal being wrapped up, and the ending hinting at the next problem!
ReplyDeleteThanks! That is what I was going for.
DeleteI never thought of cliffhangers as "business techniques," but it makes sense.
ReplyDeleteEspecially for a series.
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI like your reasoning and must say that I haven't considered what you said, because I've been burned three times by three different writers who didn't finish their series. Or better said, I've been waiting for four years to see if they will finish it.
Have a lovely Second Advent.
Shalom shalom
Sadly, many of us have been burnt.
DeleteI'm fine with cliffhangers. Both books in the main series written under my dark fantasy pen name end on cliffhangers. I've had trouble pulling the trigger on the third book, but I'm finally working on it. Not like anyone cares. I really don't have an audience. I'm glad I saw this. I was feeling pretty crap about a comment someone left on my post about this subject.
ReplyDeleteSome folks who dislike cliffhangers are pretty hardcore about it. Sorry that vitriol came your way.
Delete