Ending First Book of Trilogy on Cliffhanger

shiva777 · Apr 11, 2012

Just finished my first book of a trilogy (yay!). It's a YA paranormal fantasy. I opted to end the first book at a cliffhanger moment. Is this wise? Should I try to wrap the first book up more cohesively?

Also I was reading that it's difficult to sell a trilogy to a publisher if you are an unpublished author. Any thoughts on that?

Thanks,
-shiva

lolchemist · Apr 11, 2012

I like it when a trilogy has more than one question to answer and one of the questions is answered at the end of book 1, one is answered at the end of book 2 and the BIG QUESTION is answered at the end of book 3. If you give nothing to the reader besides "You have to buy the next book to see what happens!" they will resent you. They will be like "Why is this story THREE books in the first place if the first two books don't even have endings? Just combine it all into ONE BOOK and trim the fat!" (At least, that's what I say when I encounter books like that!)

shiva777 · Apr 11, 2012

Thanks for the response. I would say that there's no unanswered questions at the end of my book except for the overarching question (why is the whole thing happening?).

What happens at the end is that a big event that is led up to during the book happens and then I abruptly end right at that peak moment.

It would not be hard for me to write through and tie up everything, but it seems anticlimactic. But maybe more satisfying for people? It certainly won't be a real ending as is definitely more to come...just don't know where to end it.

amschilling · Apr 11, 2012

Agree with lolchemist. Books that just stop, or end with a cliffhanger with nothing major resolved, annoy me (especially if they're the first book in a series/trilogy/whatever). And pretty much make me say very colorful things. Then I usually resolve to NOT buy the next book. For the most part, it just feels like an cheap ploy to get me to buy the next novel.

That being said, some authors can get away with it without me getting steamed up enough to boycott future works. Jim Butcher did it to me in Ghost Story--the MC was sinking into the lake, shot--but I bought the next book. Why? Because the main action/conflict of the book had been resolved, and it was already an established series. The cliffhanger was part of a character arc that's been spread throughout all the books. So if you're going to do it, be sure that something major happens and is resolved in book one, even if the over-arcing story/theme for the trilogy is not.

Angriest I've ever been over a cliffhanger as a ploy for future sales? The Passage. Don't. Even. Get. Me. Started.

thothguard51 · Apr 11, 2012

depends on the cliff hanger...

Becca C. · Apr 11, 2012

There are only two cliffhangers I absolutely love. The one at the end of Catching Fire, and the one at the end of Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins. Those are both second books in a series. The first books had proper endings. I think if your first book can stand alone, you have more leeway in your second book.

lolchemist · Apr 11, 2012

Ooh! I'm reading Demonglass right now actually!

Shiva777, my knee-jerk response is to say don't do the 'abrupt' thing but why not just start shopping the book and after it's sold you and your editor can discuss the ending later? I mean it doesn't have to be set in stone, right? At least your book is finished! And anyway, the agent wont see your ending until she's requested a full from you and no agent is going to be like 'I loved your entire book except for the few pages at the end so I refuse to represent you!' It will be more like 'What can we do about this ending?'

auriel · Apr 11, 2012

I hate cliffhangers. If I have to wait a year+ for the next book to find out what happens, I'm pretty sure I will lose at least a little interest in the meantime.

You can leave some questions unanswered, but you really need to have a feeling of closure at the end of the book. The way the first book of The Hunger Games ended - in a place of safety but with the threat of danger looming ahead - was a good way to do it, in my opinion. You can have tension at the end, but if I don't feel a sense of completion then I'm left kinda grumpy.

Mharvey · Apr 11, 2012

It's impossible to say if it works with any degree of certainty without actually reading it, of course, but I would say you probably have stacked the deck against yourself if you have forgone the conflict/climax/resolution model in favor of conflict/climax/the end, especially as an unpublished novelist.

That's the kind of shenanigans published authors get away with sometimes and even Stephen King mentioned he got a few death threats for how he ended the third book in the Dark Tower series.

On a total general scale, I'd say if you can end your novel without one, it's probably better. Regardless, if your story is as amazing as it needs to be, an agent/publisher won't reject you because you ended it in a cliffhanger. At worst, they'll tell you to write the ending.

JQTrotter · Apr 11, 2012

lolchemist said:
Ooh! I'm reading Demonglass right now actually!

Shiva777, my knee-jerk response is to say don't do the 'abrupt' thing but why not just start shopping the book and after it's sold you and your editor can discuss the ending later? I mean it doesn't have to be set in stone, right? At least your book is finished! And anyway, the agent wont see your ending until she's requested a full from you and no agent is going to be like 'I loved your entire book except for the few pages at the end so I refuse to represent you!' It will be more like 'What can we do about this ending?'

I agree with this. If there are some answers, but not every answer, then it's alright. But if there are no answers to any of the questions it'd annoy me. If the reader spends all that time investing in reading the book then they want some sort of satisfaction.

shiva777 · Apr 11, 2012

This is some great feedback. Thank you to everyone responding...leaning towards rewriting my ending..I like the idea of the characters ending "in a place of safety but with the threat of danger looming ahead"....

Ashes Oh Ashes · Apr 11, 2012

thothguard51 said:
depends on the cliff hanger...

This.

It's impossible to tell without actually reading it. But if you end it with something like your MC holding on for dear life, than no. Those kind of cliffhangers are irritating.

courtneyv · Apr 11, 2012

shiva777 said:
This is some great feedback. Thank you to everyone responding...leaning towards rewriting my ending..I like the idea of the characters ending "in a place of safety but with the threat of danger looming ahead"....

Yeah, I definitely like this type of ending better than an outright cliffhanger. For my enjoyment as a reader, I prefer each book have its own story question, conflict and resolution. If book 1 feels incomplete or like setup for other books, I won't read on. I feel cheated when this happens, like I only got part of a book.

twright · Apr 11, 2012

shiva777 said:
Just finished my first book of a trilogy (yay!). It's a YA paranormal fantasy. I opted to end the first book at a cliffhanger moment. Is this wise? Should I try to wrap the first book up more cohesively?

Also I was reading that it's difficult to sell a trilogy to a publisher if you are an unpublished author. Any thoughts on that?

Thanks,
-shiva

At the NorWesCon last weekend this question came up to a number of authors and several editors, and they all pretty much came back with the same response. That right now it's easier to sell a series, but the third book is the hardest to sell.

They way they explained it is that the publisher takes a look at the first book, and if the sales are decent they'll do the second book. How the second book does will make or break the third one, because even if they see enough sales to make a profit, if the trend is downward they probably won't take a chance on the third one.

LittleKiwi · Apr 12, 2012

As others have said, it depends on the cliffhanger.

In my mind, I think it's safer to tie up most of the threads in a first book and just leave a few dangling. There is the danger that the second book might not be published, which would leave the readers hanging. I've also heard that it's better to say it's a standalone book with series potential than book one in a series.

lyrwriter · Apr 13, 2012

Hmmm. This is all good food for thought, as my WIP ends with a cliffhanger. But it's not something involving a lot of action or high stakes or anything. The MCs have solved a lot of the problems (but not all of them) and things seem to be winding down, and then at the very end of the story there's a new-yet-somehow-related-to-everything mystery introduced---which is where we leave them. I've had some betas complain about it, but in a good-natured "nooo! why is there no more for me to keep reading??" kind of way (I didn't get the impression any of them were genuinely annoyed by it). So hopefully that's not a problem...? Anyhow, I'm not too bothered about it at the moment, but it's interesting to read everyone else's thoughts on the matter.

RKLipman · Apr 14, 2012

twright said:
At the NorWesCon last weekend this question came up to a number of authors and several editors, and they all pretty much came back with the same response. That right now it's easier to sell a series, but the third book is the hardest to sell.

They way they explained it is that the publisher takes a look at the first book, and if the sales are decent they'll do the second book. How the second book does will make or break the third one, because even if they see enough sales to make a profit, if the trend is downward they probably won't take a chance on the third one.

This is so, so, so very wrong.

Trilogies from debut authors - specifically in YA, which I assume we're talking about because, well - are exceptionally common. In fact I'd wager as to say they're even more common than standalones right now, except for in YA contemporary.

I'd also wager to say that it's a lot easier for a debut author to sell a trilogy than an already-published, midlist author to do the same.

MKrys · Apr 14, 2012

I'm not a fan of the cliff hanger. I prefer some closure at the end of a book.

MysteryRiter · Apr 14, 2012

This thread really interests me as I've been wondering the same.

To answer the OP's question: Personally, I like a mini-cliffhanger, but I prefer for everything to be pretty much resolved.

Now for my thread hijacking (sorry!): In the last chapter of my novel, my MC thinks that he won and it's all celebration and happiness. Except, on the last page, he looks out his window before going to bed only to see Antagonist who he thought was dead looking back at him from across the street.

Is this too much of a cliffhanger?

The plot of the book gets resolved for the most part, but it shows that there is still much more to the story.

yayeahyeah · Apr 14, 2012

A major cliffhanger for the first book in a series drives me crazy - and quite often stops me from going any further unless I really liked the book. There are some exceptions, naturally - The Repossession by Sam Hawksmoor is a fairly recent release which ended on a massive cliffhanger but I still loved it.

If I'm hooked on an author's writing and have got some way into a series I'm much less likely to be annoyed by a cliffhanger. For a debut author, though, I'd definitely want most of the questions resolved. (Leaving a few threads open is great, though!)

lolchemist · Apr 14, 2012

I just wanted to come back and report that I finished book 2 of Hex Hall (Demonglass) last night and I would have gone into a FROTHING RAAAAAAGEEEE had I not had book 3 on hand to start on immediately!

Cliffhanger endings work a lot better when all of the books are already out!

lolchemist · Apr 14, 2012

MysteryRiter said:
This thread really interests me as I've been wondering the same.

To answer the OP's question: Personally, I like a mini-cliffhanger, but I prefer for everything to be pretty much resolved.

Now for my thread hijacking (sorry!): In the last chapter of my novel, my MC thinks that he won and it's all celebration and happiness. Except, on the last page, he looks out his window before going to bed only to see Antagonist who he thought was dead looking back at him from across the street.

Is this too much of a cliffhanger?

The plot of the book gets resolved for the most part, but it shows that there is still much more to the story.

No, actually I think that's great! But maybe make it more of a mystery? Like he thought he saw the antagonist but he wasn't sure? This way readers who want closure can pretend he didn't really see the guy and the readers who are ready for more can go "YES! A sequel!!"

Sage · Apr 14, 2012

MysteryRiter said:
This thread really interests me as I've been wondering the same.

To answer the OP's question: Personally, I like a mini-cliffhanger, but I prefer for everything to be pretty much resolved.

Now for my thread hijacking (sorry!): In the last chapter of my novel, my MC thinks that he won and it's all celebration and happiness. Except, on the last page, he looks out his window before going to bed only to see Antagonist who he thought was dead looking back at him from across the street.

Is this too much of a cliffhanger?

The plot of the book gets resolved for the most part, but it shows that there is still much more to the story.

This is totally okay in my mind. Even if you were never to have a sequel, you're set up for the book to end and the readers to imagine what happens next. But it totally opens you up for a sequel too.

And if an agent or publisher thinks it should end at book 1, it's a ready-made ending to cut out the cliffhanger bit.

Ending First Book of Trilogy on Cliffhanger

shiva777

"Every Word is a Spell"

lolchemist

Shooting stars.

shiva777

"Every Word is a Spell"

amschilling

thothguard51

A Gentleman of a refined age...

Becca C.

lolchemist

Shooting stars.

auriel

Mharvey

Liker Of Happy Things

JQTrotter

shiva777

"Every Word is a Spell"

Ashes Oh Ashes

Honest, not Harsh

courtneyv

twright

LittleKiwi

lyrwriter

A Fuzzy Mango With Wings

RKLipman

Seasoned Veteran of Lurking

MKrys

Quietly obsessing

MysteryRiter

Murder isn't so bad...

yayeahyeah

lolchemist

Shooting stars.

lolchemist

Shooting stars.

Sage

Our Lady of Parentheticals