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Going back over my Transit of Venus I've read comments about my frequently leaving cliffhangers. I've read similar comments about other people's posts and it made me question whether some of our writing on BC is structured differently to the classic, magically produced for the audience, completed novel. The term cliffhanger comes I think from serials that left a bit of bait to encourage the audience to return for the next episode. Some BC offerings might be written with that in mind but some might also be written like that to encourage the author to pick up their pen and continue the story in the same way a painter roughly gets rid of the blank canvas with a few quick scrawls or the list maker always leaves a few uncompleted tasks on the list.
As someone who will never think of herself as a novelist I am not about to change what might be the only thing that enables me to write at all. My own life after all is merely the internal diary of the possibly fictional character I call me.
Comments
cliffhangers?
Cliffhangers? Moi? Uh yeah *evil grin* I do that. Others do too and for someone to mention it I take as a compliment. To me it means they are already thinking about the next part of the story. Now I won't CLAIM the title for doing it. There are so many excellent writers here and to be included in their ranks is high praise to me for my scribbles. I say; keep 'em on the edge of their seats and do what you do best.
quidquid sum ego, et omnia mea semper; Ego me.
alecia Snowfall
Maybe I didn't read them
Maybe I didn't read them close enough, I always read your Frills editions as a continuing story without cliffhangers so much as unresolved issues that bleed into the next edition...I see you are great at leaving unresolved issues that don't get resolved for several parts but never really seen much in the way of cliffhangers.
Your OICA stories on the other hand read like self contained stories that have crossover parts but not really cliffhangers in the normal sense. But then again you have been so creative and clever with all of those stories that your cliffhangers could just as easily be disguised(no pun intended!).
I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime
Danglers?
Um... I might... occasionally...
a good example
for the need to 'like' comments
Love, Andrea Lena
You nailed my use right there
You nailed my use right there on both accounts, for a couple of cliffhangers I wanted people to come back for more. After some subtle cliffhangers I now use cliffhangers to force me to come back to my story to continue it. It takes a lot out of me to force myself to use my imagination so after about 1,200 or so words I am unable to continue so I need to do something to make me come back and leaving it
The downside of this is I have had to shift what I was originally going to do with my story around. I tossed out my outline and am just writing it as I go along with no real destination, whatever happens will happen and however it ends will be as much of a surprise to me as it is to the readers.
I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime
Cliffhangers *are* the norm
If you read almost any novel or watch any television show, you'll see that cliffhangers are more the rule than the exception. "Leave them wanting more" is very old and very good advice. How many novels end each chapter on a perfectly resolved note? "And they all went to bed and slept very well" is not much of an ending unless there is some strong irony involved.
One of my goals in writing is to make the reader HAVE to go on reading, even if they don't want to. I'm not saying I always succeed, but that's what I'm going for. So it isn't just cliffhangers, it's all about pulling the reader in.
So, tell me, what are the dull novels you're reading that don't have cliffhangers?
Kaleigh Way
Road stories have the opposite of cliffhangers
Very often what I think of as road stories have a series of descriptions of the difficulty of getting 'back in the saddle' to continue the journey.
Rhona McCloud
Interesting
Interesting... Once I decided to combine every three parts together in my long BB story, I got lucky: the three-part posts had both versions. Parts 8-10 ended with the "slept very well" version, but posts 14-16 and 17-19 both ended in cliffhangers. I meant the "slept very well" version to resolve a section, but one reader took it in (perhaps) the very strong irony way. (Something bad happened to one of the characters in that section.)
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
Cliffhangers
The word came from the old movie serials, where often the hero was left literally hanging off a cliff at the end of the movie part.
I don't mind cliffhangers if they make sense as part of the story, but too often authors will force a cliffhanger to end a chapter that would have been better off without one. Ending every chapter on a cliffhanger is more likely to drive me away from your story than make me come back and read it. Having a well written, well plotted, intriguing story is going to keep me coming back, whether there is a cliffhanger or not.
Saturday Morning Pictures
I'm old enough to remember going to 'The Embassy', paying my 6d (approx 2.5p/1.5c) for two hours of movies. There was always a serial ('C' movie type of thing) at the end and there was always a cliffhanger. all to entice you back the next week.
I my writing I might be guilty of the 'accidental cliffhanger'. i.e. ending the chapter when it feels right but with loose ends that are obvious to the reader.
In my current story(unpublished as yet) one such ending is when the mother of the heroine (GG) announces that she's coming to visit because her daughter let slip that she was dating a woman (TG).
Cliffhanger? Yes
Suitable ending to a Chapter? you decide.
That was expensive.
Saturday pictures were only 3d (1.25p) when I occasionally attended. I usually saved my money because it was always so noisy with kids fighting in the aisles for no real reason and general mayhem that it was impossible to enjoy the film. I preferred to spend my meagre pocket money on a comic instead and, even then, I preferred the ones with few pictures and lots of print which thus represented better value and a longer read :)
In my youth the most common cliffhangers were in the 15 minute daily soap "Dick Barton, Special Agent". Every evening Dick would find himself threatened and the script writer always employed the device I call the "with one bound, Dick was free" technique. That happens all too often and should be avoided at all costs.
Robi
"He didn't GET OUT of the COCKA-DOODIE CAR!!!!"
An author and his Number One Fan discuss cliff hangers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO20qU-VwgA
What borders on stupidity?
Canada and Mexico.
.
In the Museum of Literary Devices
As we entered the Museum of Literary Devices, Cliff and I left our coats on the narrative hooks. We watched in fascination as a native artisan operated a framing device. There was a big part of the museum we couldn't visit because they were breaking the fourth wall.
We rode the Deus ex Machina a few times, and then dangled our feet in the stream of consciousness, gorging ourselves on plot twists.
As we were about to leave, Cliff approached an odd looking gizmo.
I screamed, "No Cliff, don't stick your neck in there! That's a-"
[TO BE CONTINUED]
What borders on stupidity?
Canada and Mexico.
.
Upon Leaving the Museum. . .
. . .I was accused of high crime of circumlocution, but I talked my way out of it after paying a small syntax.
Two large numerals directed us to Highway 43. We step out from the "4" shadowing into the direct sunlight, which smiled brightly in a direct act of anthromorphism.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Are they kidding ? Cliff
Are they kidding ? Cliff hangers add to the story. If you don't want cliff hangers, get a Readers Digest.
Kevin/Cefin
I have never
had one of my characters dangling from a cliff, as far as I can remember.
Angharad
You know....
...someone(or several someones) is going to have to end a chapter exactly that way now, a cliffhanger truly worthy of the name!
:D
~>i< ..:::
Saturday mornings
The serial. One week, a literal cliff hanger, and the hero slips off and plummets... Oh. Next week, he is back on the cliff edge, and With One Mighty Bound...
Simon on Beachy Head cliffs?
I do seem to remember Cathy driving to Simon's rescue when he was in despair.
Rhona McCloud
Serious comment
Cliff hangers are one thing, but I have a penchant for hand grenades, where the narrative flow jumps to an entirely different track.
Cliffhangers are okay if you
Cliffhangers are okay if you don't overdo them, and more importantly, don't do the same cliffhanger twice. I try to avoid them in my own stories (mainly due to my constantly flitting between the ones I have on the go) but I do like reading stories that use them and, as pointed out earlier, they do help you retain readers.