The other day at work, we were discussing ways of helping kids learn to read. Since I work at a bookstore that sells homeschooling resources, we often get to talk to parents about teaching methods. Eventually we got to the topic of how to get a kid interested in reading on his own. One suggestion seemed really good to me. It was from a mom who had tried this, and found it worked really well.
When she read with her kids, she would always make sure she had 'something pressing' that she had to do as soon as the book got to a really exciting moment. She would have to go make dinner, or call a friend or something, and then leave the book on a coffee table, or somewhere close by where the kids could reach it.
Pure genius.
It may not have happened the first time, but eventually those kids started going to the books themselves because the cliffhangers proved to be just too much for them. It instilled in them an actual desire to read.
And it's pretty obvious why. No one needs to be taught how to be curious. No one needs to be told to expect conflict to be resolved at the end of the story. We all yearn for the satisfaction of closure. We want to see exciting things happen, and experience incredible twists, and then we want to see how it will all end.
I should be clear on one thing though, I don't see cliffhangers as something that can only come at the end of a novel. I see cliffhangers as something that can potentially come at the end of a chapter, or the end of a scene even. I define it as a moment that is so filled with suspense, shock, or intensity that to stop at that point would be impossible. It's a moment that demands a resolution. Fast.
Cliffhangers can prove to be incredibly powerful devices. When used properly, they can totally absorb a reader into reading well past their intended bedtime, or force a reader to break down and buy the book they're holding in the bookstore.
When you're writing, you always need to keep in mind how you're going to keep your reader's attention. You can't have exciting things happening on every page, or else it gets monotonous, and you'll lose your reader. You always need to be asking the question "Why are they still reading right now?"
If you can't answer that as a writer, then something serious is wrong with your book.
This goes beyond cliffhangers, and more into just what makes something worth reading. The 'so what' factor. Why are you reading this book? Because you want to see how it will end. Because you care. You need some underlying questions to keep the reader interested, and cliffhangers are basically as close as you can get to knowing the answers without being told. Or, they're the bomb that an author lets go at the very last page of a chapter that takes the reader's breath away, gives them new questions to ask, and makes them say "What just happened?! What's going to happen next?"
I remember one novel in a series ending with the lead character asleep in his bed while an assassin points a gun to his head and is about to pull the trigger. I didn't have the next book with me at the time, so I had to wait about a month before I knew what happened next.
That month was agonizing.
Cliffhangers truly are powerful things. But they are two-edged swords. When a book ends every chapter with a cliffhanger, it's much like when there's something exciting happening every page. It gets boring, and cliche. When your reader feels bored, they stop caring. And that's exactly the opposite of what you're trying to accomplish with your cliffhanger. You want them to care more about what's going to happen. So what's a writer to do?
I was going to say cliffhangers are like salt, a little goes a long way, but really, they're not needed as often as salt, so the metaphor doesn't really fit. What fits better is cinnamon. It can pack a punch when used well, but if you use too much it just overpowers the whole dish. I put too much cinnamon in my coffee the other day, and it ended up messing up the whole cup.
So at least for me, if you want me to enjoy your story, give me cliffhangers. But make them good, and make them rare. That's the kind of thing I'm going to tell my friends about. That's what's going to leave a good taste in my mouth.
Do you have a love/hate relationship with cliffhangers? Or just hate? What was the best cliffhanger you've ever seen/read?
