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| favourite time |
…I hate cliffhangers. To rephrase, I hate cliffhangers than never land because (a) the next book doesn’t materialize (b) the television series is cancelled (c) the author ignores it and starts next book as if I should know what happened.
Yes, some books work well with an open question at their conclusion. These are the books which give us an ending, but there’s a fitting unknown quality which leaves us even more satisfied.
Then there are the books which bring us full circle back to the beginning. Was what we just read all a dream set to repeat in an endless loop. Are we reliving the same life in our own reality. An ending which makes us think.
But, if you’ve left your hero hanging over a cliff with the branch or rope ready to break and the villain is fast approaching…why? This isn’t some super comic hero where your reader will tune in next week. Your reader will most likely sit back and slam their reader down peeved at you for leaving them hanging.
But…yes, I hear you…but, your story is part of a series with a long-term story arc which needs its cliffhanger to continue.
Here’s how to handle those…every individual book in your series needs to be a standalone tale. It needs to have the beginning, middle, and conclusion. That should be the focus of the story, not the long-term arc. Your overall arc can have its own story before moving on to the next big behind tale. Within the pages of the individual books your lengthy story should maintain a low-key feel, hints of what’s to come. Enough to keep your readers’ interest, but not something that leaves them gnashing their teeth in frustration.
However…you know there would be one…working with MuseItUp Publishing, we have contracted a series in its entirety which then allows for that anticipatory cliffhanger cause as a publisher we know the next book will be out soon…and can market to your readers that very information. I’m sure other publishers have this same or similar process. In other words…work on books two and three as soon as book one is done, have something ready to submit at same time as first manuscript or at least close enough to be there within months of the previous one.
And contrary to everything I’ve just written…cliffhangers can work and some readers love them. Seriously, though keep in mind to make sure the next story, the concluding story is somewhere on the near horizon.
And who said writing was easy?