Chapter Breaks and Cliffhangers

Okay, I am in the middle of writing my novel's climax (totaling around 10,000 words), and is broken up into several chapters. I've realized the next chapter I am about to write requires the chapter break to be in a different place for pacing, which means a different cliffhanger than the one I intended. The chapter will end with the antagonist being shot at by the antagonist (which is at a point where I need to up the stakes), but I really hate it in a book where a chapter ends with 'a shot rang out.' When ever I see this I cringe because it's a cheap trick and it makes me cringe (and I don't think it particularly works well).

Any pointers on how I could freshen up such an old (and manipulative) cliche?

The Second Moon said:

You said the antagonist is being shot at by the antagonist. Is the first "antagonist" supposed to be "protagonist"? If not, please forgive me. I'm just trying to understand. (For what it's worth, that would be cool for the antagonist to be shot at by another antagonist )

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Whoops! It should be the protagonist getting shot at by the antagonist.

(I'm blaming that first Covid vaccine I had yesterday, and that's the story I'm sticking to!)

Maryn said:

If you want to avoid A shot rang out (good for you!) consider whether the person being shot is the POV character. I think it could be fascinating to be inside the mind of a person who's just been shot and is still conscious. You might even have them lose consciousness in a Fade to Black kind of way, the cliffhanger being whether they died or not.

Maryn, just a thought

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I like that.