Resolution or cliff-hanger for chapt. endings?

Little Bird · Mar 5, 2009

I was reading through an old thread of questions answered by agent Nathan Bransford. He mentioned how a chapter should have the same elements that make a good plot for a novel—its own hook, build-up, conflict, and resolution (or something to that effect). This made sense to me, and it's something I often do. However, I've written many chapters so that they read as cliff-hangers, and sometimes felt compelled to go back and change the nice, tidily concluded chapters so that they end in suspense, thinking that's what an editor is looking for —a story the reader can't put down because she wants to find out what comes next.

How do you guys handle this?

The Lonely One · Mar 5, 2009

Little Bird said:
I was reading through an old thread of questions answered by agent Nathan Bransford. He mentioned how a chapter should have the same elements that make a good plot for a novel—its own hook, build-up, conflict, and resolution (or something to that effect). This made sense to me, and it's something I often do. However, I've written many chapters so that they read as cliff-hangers, and sometimes felt compelled to go back and change the nice, tidily concluded chapters so that they end in suspense, thinking that's what an editor is looking for —a story the reader can't put down because she wants to find out what comes next.

How do you guys handle this?

Read "To Build a Fire." It's a short story but an excellent textbook example of what you're referring to. Each "scene" has a resolution, however each "scene" only creates further problems for the protagonist. I think chapters can be set up similarly, where a character resolves an element of the plot but ten worse problems crop up that are the subject of the next chapter. That sort of thing.

Prozyan · Mar 5, 2009

A good place to end a chapter is at the resolution of one conflict and the start of another.

Sage · Mar 5, 2009

Personally, I love ending a chapter on a cliffhanger. Make them have to pick up that book again.

Clair Dickson · Mar 5, 2009

Sometimes I end with a cliff hanger. Sometimes I end with a resolution to the chapter. It depends on where I'm at in the story. And sometimes, it's nice to give the reader a place to go to bed... after keeping them up for the past four chapters. ;-)

Sage · Mar 5, 2009

Clair Dickson said:
Sometimes I end with a cliff hanger. Sometimes I end with a resolution to the chapter. It depends on where I'm at in the story. And sometimes, it's nice to give the reader a place to go to bed... after keeping them up for the past four chapters. ;-)

Yes. This.

Little Bird · Mar 5, 2009

Clair Dickson said:
Clair Dickson said:

Sometimes I end with a cliff hanger. Sometimes I end with a resolution to the chapter. It depends on where I'm at in the story. And sometimes, it's nice to give the reader a place to go to bed... after keeping them up for the past four chapters. ;-)

Click to expand...

Good point, Clair!

There are some authors I love, but their books are just one cliff hanger after another. I've literally stayed up all night reading. Now I won't pick up one of their books unless I have time to neglect the rest of my life for a few days.

Thanks, everyone for the great feedback!

Gillhoughly · Mar 5, 2009

Cliffhanger.

Every time.

You want readers sending you nasty letters about how your bleeping book kept them up all night, ending with a request to know when your NEXT bleeping book is due out.

wandergirl · Mar 5, 2009

I'm okay with the occasional cliffhanger, but I DESPISE when authors overuse them. Like Dan Brown. Or R.L. Stine. Especially fake-out cliffhangers -- The chapter winds down with a resolution, but then THERE'S A TAP ON HIS SHOULDER!! chapter end. Next chapter: it was just the maid.
HATE.

Gynn · Mar 5, 2009

Gillhoughly said:
Cliffhanger.

Every time.

You want readers sending you nasty letters about how your bleeping book kept them up all night, ending with a request to know when your NEXT bleeping book is due out.

Hmmm. Maybe I'll try that. As it is now, my WIP has longer chapters that have little breaks to denote a "same scene, later on" kind of thing.

Should I just turn them into their own chapters? I don't want it to seem cheesy like the above poster was talking about!

Qelenhn · Mar 5, 2009

If you have multiple POVs, don't end on a cliffhanger when you switch from one to another if you're not going to be getting back to the one you left hanging for a while. This is very irritating.

Cliffhangers that will be addressed in the next chapter are good. But not necessary for every chapter I would think.

maestrowork · Mar 5, 2009

Having a resolution doesn't mean you have to end the chapter on the resolution. And also, like someone else said, the resolution should give rise to more questions or build plot momentum.... so the readers would want to turn the page.

It doesn't have to be a cliffhanger, per se (although it could), but it has to build, and make the readers ask: What's happening next? And ask other pertinent questions they would like to be answered.

In The Pacific Between, I tended to wrap things up each chapter and then offer a suspense, or cliffhanger if you will. The result is that my readers think (especially the second half the book when the momentum keeps going) it's like a roller coaster ride... just when you think something is resolved, there's another question and mystery or action that begs for a consequence (and they have to flip the page to the next chapter to find out). Yeah, keeping your readers turning the pages until the wee hours is not a bad thing. In fact, it's a very very good thing. I love it when they say, "I was going to get a drink of water and read it the next day, but I ended up reading the rest of the book that night..."

ChaosTitan · Mar 5, 2009

Clair Dickson said:
Sometimes I end with a cliff hanger. Sometimes I end with a resolution to the chapter. It depends on where I'm at in the story. And sometimes, it's nice to give the reader a place to go to bed... after keeping them up for the past four chapters. ;-)

Exactly. Cliffhangers make it harder to put the book down.

Danthia · Mar 6, 2009

Mix it up, do a little of everything so the story isn't predictable. But honestly, if you end with nothing to entice the reader to keep reading, you risk them setting down the book and not picking it back up. If you resolve something, offer something new as well.

I find ending every chapter with a cliffhanger gets tedious, because there's only so much dire danger you can do before it gets old. If every chapter ends with the hero about to die, and then it's resolved in the opening of the next chapter, the reader will pick up pretty darn quick that the danger in manufactured for shock value. Then your cliffhangers lose all their punch. Gotta keep them guessing to keep them reading.

I like to end chapters with a sense that something is about to happen, be it a cliffhanger, a secret revealed that has consequences, a plan about to be enacted. Something that will make the reader say "one more chapter, then I'll go to bed." And then try to make them say that again at the end of the next chapter too.

ChaosTitan · Mar 6, 2009

Danthia said:
I like to end chapters with a sense that something is about to happen, be it a cliffhanger, a secret revealed that has consequences, a plan about to be enacted.

I would actually consider all of those things a cliffhanger, in some sense. Maybe not the traditional "she's standing at the open door with a shotgun in her face" cliffhanger. But ending the chapter with a sense of doom, or approaching peril still leaves the reader wanting more. I like to put the reader on the rising end of the conflict/rest curve, rather than on the downswing.

donroc · Mar 6, 2009

Yes to both.

tehuti88 · Mar 6, 2009

I like cliffhanger chapters, but that's probably because I write serials.

I used to write NON-cliffhanger chapters in my novels. And...looking back, I just hate them. They usually seem to end with characters walking out of a room or something. So terribly bland. Maybe back when I wrote those I just wasn't good at "resolution chapter endings" yet, because I do make use of such things in my serials (just not as much as the cliffhanger endings), and they work better there.

I guess it depends on what kind of pace you want your novel to have. I'd expect more frequent resolution endings for more laid-back novels, and cliffhangers for more action-packed ones. I find resolution endings a nice change of pace every so often in my serials, to lessen tension (because as stated earlier, cliffhangers for EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER get kind of tedious), but I imagine they would not work for most chapters. In my story, the action and suspense HAVE to be kept going. So that's why cliffhangers work for me.

Just my longwinded way of saying it depends!

James D. Macdonald · Mar 6, 2009

You want enough resolution to reward the reader but enough hanging that she'll continue reading.

ishtar'sgate · Mar 6, 2009

Little Bird said:
I was reading through an old thread of questions answered by agent Nathan Bransford. He mentioned how a chapter should have the same elements that make a good plot for a novel—its own hook, build-up, conflict, and resolution (or something to that effect). This made sense to me, and it's something I often do. However, I've written many chapters so that they read as cliff-hangers, and sometimes felt compelled to go back and change the nice, tidily concluded chapters so that they end in suspense, thinking that's what an editor is looking for —a story the reader can't put down because she wants to find out what comes next.

How do you guys handle this?

Small resolutions but bigger problems looming on the horizon.

Zipotes · Mar 6, 2009

I love using cliffhangers.

SWickham · Mar 6, 2009

I was just debating this same sort of thing yesterday while writing!!

James D. Macdonald said:
You want enough resolution to reward the reader but enough hanging that she'll continue reading.

This sounds like perfect advice-thanks.

C.M.C. · Mar 6, 2009

My advice would be to stop looking for advice and just write what you want to write. It's the only way to be happy.

HopelessDreamer · Mar 6, 2009

I rarely ever end chapters in cliffhangers. It's not a conscious decision; I actually never even thought about it until I read this thread. For some reason I feel like I need to end it with at least some kind of resolution.

ishtar'sgate said:
Small resolutions but bigger problems looming on the horizon.

Great way of putting it.

Gillhoughly · Mar 6, 2009

Make it a genuine hanger, too.

I also hate the manipulative wankers who put in a fake one to get you to turn the page. THAT'S a rip off.

If something taps your hero on the shoulder and it's the maid, then she danged well better be trying to scoop out his brains for her brunch.

Chris Grey · Mar 6, 2009

I think the question is not "which" but "how much of each" and the answer, as always, is "it varies."

Look at George R.R. Martin if you want a good example of a modern drug dealer. I realize I'm going to be waiting like five years to find out if this heroine lives or dies as noose tightens around her neck. I realize it's going to be five years before I discover just what a certain knight's final decision means. I hope it's only another year before I find out of you-know-who knows who he just befriended, and longer still until we find out if he's the same as him, who we suspect might really be that one, who wasn't what he seemed in the first place. I know it'll be a long time before I get the answers I want. The questions are compelling enough that I'd rather wait than give up.

Resolution or cliff-hanger for chapt. endings?

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