How do you compare them to foreshadowing? Is there times when it’s too many? Does it feel gimmicky? Like a formula to further reader engagement?
I’m currently reading Brandon Sanderson’s Well of Ascension (second book in Mistborn Era 1).
I’ve only read a few of his other works, but I’ve noticed it seems to be the first which has a lot of ‘rabbit out of the hat’ cliffhangers.
A chapter will be about one thing, with the last 3-4 paragraphs introducing a completely unrelated (mostly) new thing that ends the chapter with a cliffhanger. I’d normally call this foreshadowing, if the cliffhanger wasn’t immediately addressed in the next 2 pages at the start of the very next chapter. I tend to find foreshadowing usually has implications of something bigger and grander to come in the future, and isn’t addressed almost immediately. It’s usually more subtle. Maybe my definition is wrong.
When I worked in TV and film we’d call the scene before commercial breaks on cable TV, artifical conflict. But that’s kind of how I feel about some of the cliffhanger endings of the chapters in this book. It feels kind of artificial since it’s immediately addressed and usually fixed.
I haven’t thought long enough yet to know whether it’s bothering me. Part of me feels like it’s a gimmick to get me to turn the page and the fact I’m even making this post leads me to believe it is. But another part of me thinks it’s fine because I’m mostly enjoying the book.
How do you guys feel about this sort of thing?
by RyanGoosling93
18 Comments
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Is it really a cliffhanger if you can just… continue the story?
I get what you are saying and you are absolutely right that it is similar to artificial conflict. Do I think it is necessary? No. But I could see certain writers who do focus on having more colorful entertainment aspects find it a compelling way to move from chapter to chapter. Especially if you are of the belief that people will most likely pause a read between chapters.
I can see it being annoying, but I don’t personally find it bothersome at all.
I’m an author and I sometimes do this when I want the reader to keep going, to not pause the story in a part I consider should be read continuosly, but I use it sparsely because it can get annoying if the whole book demands you keep going. I do remember Sanderson overusing it in Mistborn, his sense of flow and story structure is something I didn’t enjoy nor liked.
I’ve read books that do this almost every chapter and find it annoying. Once or twice is fine, but the overuse really cheapens the tension for me. I stop believing anything bad that happens because I know it’s just gonna get resolved in a page or two. It feels like a lazy way to create suspense when the author’s writing isn’t strong enough.
Yeah, I found that pretty bloody annoying, it makes no difference to the big picture or the overall experience of the novel but dude, I would like to stop reading at the end of this chapter, not slightly before or slightly after. It feels almost needy, like he really wants you to not put the book down but trust me feller, your market is “nerds who enjoy fantasy novels the size of a breeze block”, not putting the book down isn’t a thing you have to worry about. Having your fans die from dehydration because they didn’t put the book down is a thing you have to worry about.
The use of artificial conflicts or manufactured tension is a style that most YA books adopt. These moments initially create suspense, but their swift resolution without significant consequence or impact on the plot undermines their effectiveness. Your definition is not wrong; I would hesitate to call them cliffhangers too—it’s just an author’s gimmick to keep the reader engaged.
They serve more as fleeting hooks to sustain reader engagement rather than genuine anticipation or advancing the storyline in meaningful ways. It often lacks the depth and lasting impact, but profound depth is not what I am looking for when I read these books, so it doesn’t seem as jarring. It’s fun and formulaic, but I was expecting it to be.
I love it! Gives me something to look forward to if I decide to pause there.
“Terry dropped his final quarter into the Coke machine and pressed the button ‘Diet Coke’. He didn’t hear anything. Nothing. He waited what felt like an eternity, wondering; ‘did the machine just screw me?'”
CHAPTER TWO
“And then the can fell down.”
It’s the easiest way to create a page-turner so I get why authors use it but it becomes so tiresome and formulaic after a while. The tension is gone as soon as the cliffhanger is resolved in the next chapter which can create this weird choppiness when it comes to pacing.
Not to mention it draws attention to the structure of the book when it’s overused instead of letting me be immersed in the story itself.
What I think you’re describing is indeed a cliffhanger and as you know cliffhangers were popular when TV was only a glint in DW Griffith’s eye. Foreshadowing is a subtle suggestion of what is to come and cliffhangers only make you eager to learn the outcome and indeed that’s their only purpose. You couldn’t call those ‘coming in the next episode’ (or chapter) previews foreshadowing either.
Just by the way a UK station showed a series called Phantom Empire, a movie serial I recommend not for the cliffhanger ending each episode but for the cowboy singing harmonies, the ridiculously stilted Queen of Murania, and the admirably feisty girl who was a prize-winning rider.
It’s better than that cliffhanger being skipped past and ignored for most of the rest of the book only to be addressed in a throwaway line.
It’s a weird thing but if I start a chapter, I have to keep reading, so I have to decide whether to go to sleep or find out the answer to this stupid cliffhanger. So as a reader, I hate it, but as a writer, it’s awesome. Lol
Is it a gimmick? Yes. But if it gets you to turn the page, it works.
I tried out something like this recently and passed it along to some beta readers. Shorter chapters with a stinger at the end to create that “cable break” moment.
Most liked it. They liked that it made the story move quickly, that it propelled them through the book and made them want to turn the page. For those that did have to stop reading (for sleep or work or kids or whatever), it built anticipation and made them want to come back to the book at the first opportunity.
I had one guy who hated it with such a passion, it was startling. His commentary was borderline abusive over it.
So lots of mixed feelings out there, but it’s something I’m going to keep trying since the majority of feedback was positive or neutral.
It makes me assume the story was originally posted on fanfiction.net haha
My biggest issue is when they’re resolved immediately, then a long boring chapter, then another cliffhanger right at the end, that’s resolved immediately and so on.
The Expanse (tv, not books) did this. It would raise a big interesting question… then have a complete let-down of an answer, and 40 minutes of not much then another interesting turn.
Resolutions to these cliffhangers should be interesting, have an impact on the story going forward, and if possible raise even more questions to maintain interest, and not just build a suspenseful moment to make the reader start the next chapter – just banking on them not wanting to stop in the middle of a chapter.
>How do you guys feel about this sort of thing?
Skilled writers can do it very well. Ian Fleming used to do something similar that got named the “Fleming Sweep” because you’d sweep from one chapter to the next. It was a way of keeping the reader engaged by making the flow of the story fluid. And Terry Pratchett did it because he thought that chapters imposed an artificial structure on a book because the end of the chapter marked the place where you put the book down, but in his mind the story continued whether or not you kept reading.
My biggest problem with this is if that’s the entire book. What I mean is Chapter 1 -> Cliffhanger Ending -> Chapter 2 resolves it. -> Cliffhanger Ending again. -> Repeat.
Books, in general, do need to have conflict. Things have to happen. Mysteries have to be solved but this doesn’t need to happen every chapter. I’m a fan of slower stories with less conflict so the less cliffhangers/big dramatic moments the better.
This is also very common in web/serial novels/fanfictions that post once a week. Give the reader a reason to want to come back (or scare them off with too many cliffhangers).