What's the equivelent of the 'next time' bit on TV shows for books?

Do you mean chapter-to-chapter? Or between books in a series?

I think you've got the right idea with chapter titles. They're not seen as much these days, and it's really not the place for wordiness, but if you can hint, in a word or two, what's coming up, the title of the chapter would be the place.
(Lengthy chapter titles gives the book an old-fashioned feel: 'In which we run away to sea, and almost drown.)
Be aware, some people really dislike chapter titles, feeling that it gives away too much info, as they like to be surprised. Sure makes it easier to find the chapter that you want, though, unlike the bland numbered chapters.

I don't think you need this chapter to chapter - the work is surely so well written that the reader can't put it down between chapters (c:

What Bacchus says. End each chapter on a cliff-hanger that propels the reader on to the next page. (Or keeps them thinking about it all day at work, so when they get hime they're ready to dive in.)

Just don't use false cliff-hangers.

End of chapter:
Beginning of next chapter:

I'm going to take another position here and suggest that always ending a chapter on a cliffhanger can get monotonous, predictable, and therefore annoying. And by cliffhanger, I mean a suspenseful event, with the outcome that's hanging in the balance being, if not actually life and death, at least fairly serious. You can end a chapter on a tense note and it not be a cliffhanger. You can also end a chapter on a quiet and/or hopeful note. Any savvy reader knows the lull is not going to last.

I'd join. I generally avoid forms which draw attention to themselves and away from the story.

**Edit** The credit for this awesome exercise goes to be frank. Thanks, be frank!!

Someone on this wonderful forum (I can't remember who--one of you guys who knows, please post it so they get credit. This is NOT my idea) posted the "But, So, And, (Or)" exercise. It's often used for writing a query letter, but it works for writing scenes in your manuscript. (Someone got the link handy??) Anyway, the BSA(O) rule is that after your scene (or chapter in your case), you flow to the next scene with a BUT. Like, MC gets what he wants, BUT something happens to mess things up. Or he tries to get what he wants BUT can't. SO, he does the next thing (this is your next scene). AND then this happens. Your scenes or chapters can be complete, with nice shiny wrapping, BUT is there a reason to keep reading? I assume so. Why? What's the challenge? Think as you write, BUT what happens next? SO, what will my character do? AND then what? Set the ending of your chapter up so that the reader is left with at least SOME unanswered questions. I'm not saying it has to be a cliffhanger. It can be a wonderful sweet moment. He gets the girl, they kiss, and now what....?? Alternate between But, So, and Ands (not necessarily in that order, and you can have a couple Ands, Buts or Sos in a row) until you reach that place in your story where your MC is forced to make an impossible choice. That's when the OR comes to play. He can keep the girl but lose all his money or he can lose the girl and keep his money, for (a very lame) example. Then you spend the rest of the novel using BUT, SO, and AND as you tell us what happens, what he chooses and the results of that choice. As much as we want each chapter to end nicely, there's no point in reading further unless there's at least some tension. I need something to make me keep going. Look at your favorite books. How did that author handle moving from one chapter or scene to the next? Just my two cents (and someone elses fabulous advice). Hope it helps.

BethS said:

I'm going to take another position here and suggest that always ending a chapter on a cliffhanger can get monotonous, predictable, and therefore annoying. And by cliffhanger, I mean a suspenseful event, with the outcome that's hanging in the balance being, if not actually life and death, at least fairly serious. You can end a chapter on a tense note and it not be a cliffhanger. You can also end a chapter on a quiet and/or hopeful note. Any savvy reader knows the lull is not going to last.

Click to expand...

This is how I feel about chapter endings. I don't want every chapter to be a cliffhanger. I don't like to leave characters in peril, to be honest—I want a nice safe place to leave them while I sleep or go to work. Cliffhanger at every turn makes it hard to put the book down... which, yeah, that's what we want, but it can be really annoying if you have to put it down but can never find a place where putting it down won't completely invalidate all the tension you've been building with your conflict... you need natural pauses, imo.

I, personally, can only tolerate a true cliffhanger every few chapters or so. If it's all still one major scene, why not have it all in one larger chapter?

I do like tension at the end of the chapter. I want to have the main action resolved but with a niggling question I still need the answer to.

I usually use chapter ends for a break in time, place, or characters. I do like to leave readers with a reason to turn the page.

I like to end my first chapter with a cliffhanger, and maybe one towards the climax of the plot, but other than that, I draw the reader along with questions. Like, a question in chapter 1 is answered in chapter 3, meanwhile more questions are raised. I make it sound confusing, but it really isn't.

When I finish a chapter, I like to leave it with something that will ensure the reader will turn to the next one (hopefully immediately). This doesn't have to mean a cliffhanger (I will use these occassionally), but it can also be a question that hangs over the MC, or a resolution as you have mentioned. The important thing is that the chapter arc has been resolved. The example James has given is right, not only is this false (an anti-climax), but has also violated the natural arc.

On the Poldark example. I wouldn't necessarily call it a resolution, but a temporary ceasefire. Demelza hasn't forgotton that she's caught Ross flirting with Elizabeth (the trailer also shows her giving Ross a well deserved slapping), and Ross doesn't know that he's been caught flirting. Also, anyone who knows the books knows the Ross-Demelza-Elizabeth triangle is far from resolved.

This is something I've tested with my fanfiction works. People do NOT respond well to cliffhangers between a majority of chapters. Cliffhangers (when used this excessively) only breed an eye roll from me. I think it's a rather lazy method to get me to turn the page or click "Next Chapter." If your story isn't the motivation for me to keep going, and this is the only reason, nine times out of nine, I will abandon the book altogether. Just my thoughts. Cliffhangers are generally best used appropriately. Authors can interpret "appropriately" appropriately.

With books like the Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and Delirium by Lauren Oliver there tend to be little quotes or sayings above some or all of the chapters that kind of hint at the theme of the chapter or an aspect of the worldbuilding that's about to come up. In Marie Lu's Young Elites there are quotes above each chapter from different sources and texts inside the world itself, like 'Let it be known, so the gods help me. I am not a traitor. I am not a spy. - Inscription etched in stone on the wall of an Estenzian prison cell, by an unnamed prisoner'

I've seen these in a bunch of novels, and if done right they work as a bit of a next time and can be used to strengthen the atmosphere or world of the book. I also like when books have vignettes between 'main' chapters. It's a style choice that doesn't work with every voice but if it's done right it feels like a little refresher that makes following the main plot easier/more entertaining.

In Zoe Marriott's Name of the Blade trilogy, there are literally little 'previously on' segments before the first chapter that quickly recount the plot of the previous book so you don't have to reread it to remember who's who and what's what. The first chapter of every Vampire Academy sequel is basically Rose recapping the previous book in infodump narration, which was actually really annoying....

Those are chapters or if you mean the next book, the first chapter of the next book at the end. Two very different mediums. Two very different Next Times.