4 Tips How to Write Cliffhangers, Hooking in Your Reader For More
The cliffhanger is not a new technique.
In fact, writers have literally made movies around the idea of dangling our beloved character off the side of a cliff to get us at the edge of our seats, biting our nails, ignoring everything else in the universe to see “what happens next?!”
Thankfully even though this technique has been waaaaayyy overused. It still works.
We can definitely add this one to the proverbial toolbox.
Keep it simple
We don’t always have to dangle our character over a cliff in order to make this technique work.
In reality, this won’t work if we do it too much. Our reader will see through our antics and get bored.
If our main character almost dies at the end of every chapter hanging over a cliff, you can bet the reader will be saying “fool me twice, shame on me” by chapter three.
Instead find creative ways to make little cliffhangers during chapters and at the end of chapters.
Them almost dying at the end of every chapter makes for boring and not suspensful, but if they were about to lose a relationship, or be caught doing something they shouldn’t and the reader has to go to the next chapter to find out what happens next, then you’re winning.
Examples:
– Characters are in a fight and might break up
– Something is about to hurt character like a dangerous animal
– One character just went missing
– A character just witnessed another doing something suspicious and unexplainable
Basically we want to create a smaller conflict that needs to be resolved in our reader’s mind that will gnaw at their curiosity until they get the answer.
This works best if we have done a good job of getting them interested in the characters’ lives and feelings.
Keep creating questions
We have to be careful how we do this one.
If we create a question for our reader to look forward to the answer, we better darn well answer it.
And a great skill to practice is the creative ability to create questions when we give answers.
Use dialogue to help the reader see the answer and the next question.
Dan Brown does an amazing job with this in the DaVinci Code.
He uses Langdon in this way.
Langdon will answer one of the mysterious questions, one of the riddles, but then he’ll say something to the effect of, “but if that’s true then what about this?“
And then Langdon will say, “we need to go to the Sistine Chapel,” and before we know it Langdon is being shot at on the way to the Sistine Chapel and we’re hooked to find out if he’ll make it.
This is genius for answering a question we made and leading the reader right into the next one without drawing it out to much and leaving the reader bored as they wait for the next riddle to solve.
4 Tips How to Write Cliffhangers, Hooking in Your Reader For More
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4 Tips How to Write Cliffhangers, Hooking in Your Reader For More
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Your character can simply say, “this answers this question, but now we have this question to deal with.”
Now when your character needs to go to the next place we are happily following along.
It would be a bad idea to have no reason for your character to go to the next place and we just somehow end up there and stumble upon the next clue.
This technique can be toyed with, but I think you get the idea.
Create questions while answering questions, but BE SURE to answer all your questions eventually. Don’t leave your reader feeling cheated of the time they invested in reading your story.
Make them feel like they can predict what’s going to happen next, only to fool them.
Lead your reader into the most obvious choice or answer to the riddle.
And just when they think they’ve figured it out, put a twistaroo on it. (twistaroo is not a real word 🙂 )
This is called a good twist.
One of my all time top 10 fave twist moments was in the Sixth Sense. “I see dead people.”
I recommend watching it if you haven’t and as long as you aren’t easily spooked.
Spoiler alert:
The twist in the end was so shocking to me, I never saw it coming that Bruce Willis was dead the entire time.
It was like a left hook sucker punch for me and I, to this day cannot think of a better twist or reveal. Now that I think about it, it’s easily in my top 5 twisty movies.
So just like that, lead your reader into thinking that they know where you’re headed just to cut them off at the pass.
Surprise them wherever you can and they’ll love you for it.
Give them something to look forward to at the start
Don’t waste any time setting your reader up for cliffhangers.
Get started right away in chapter letting them know they are in for a fun ride.
Our main job as writers is to entertain.
Start off with a bang:
– “That’s the moment he knew he’d never see her again.”
– “As he looked at the clock sweat began to fall off his nose. He was taking to long.”
– “Bubbles were still surfacing as I dove into the river after the sinking suburban.”
Create mystery, intrigue, and suspense right away.
Don’t waste time explaining the plot, characters, or other detailed ideas. Allow the plot to unfold without them thinking, “oh so the plot is going to be about this.”
Allow your reader to discover clever ideas as you get them to turn the next page with cliffhangers.
Don’t let the reader in. Don’t show all your cards too quickly.
Be strategic.
Set up a powerplay by creating a moment of intense intrigue and use it to carry your reader to the next plot point without them knowing how they got there.
Entertain them as you reveal that your character’s mother is the true villain and everything they were raised to think was a lie.
It’s absolutely okay and maybe a good idea to make your reader confused and in the dark as long as you are going to show them the light and solve their confusion by the end of the story.
Never leave your reader feeling, “Why did I just read that? What was the point of all that?”
Give them something to continually look forward to or else they will look forward to it elsewhere.
Hope this helps!
Happy writing!
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4 Tips How to Write Cliffhangers, Hooking in Your Reader For More
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4 Tips How to Write Cliffhangers, Hooking in Your Reader For More
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