It’s the Monthly Blog Hop for the Insecure Writers Support Group founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh.
The first Wednesday of every month, an optional question is announced that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience, or even a story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post. Remember, the question optional.
Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
The awesome co-hosts for the December 4 posting of the IWSG are Ronel, Deniz, Pat Garcia, Olga Godim, and Cathrina Constantine!
December 4 question - Do you write cliffhangers at the end of your stories? Are they a turn-off to you as a writer and/or a reader?
I don’t write cliff hangers at the end of a book...
But rather...
I leave the reader with hope that when the book ends...
There’ll be a second or third book with the same characters.
BUT...
In my EM series...
I do leave cliff hangers at the end of most of my chapters...
My hope is that the reader will be that curious...
And want to continue to the next chapter, and the next, and the next.
When I'm reading a novel it bugs me when a chapter ends...
But the next chapter is not a continuation...
But rather it jumps to another part of the story that doesn’t seem connected...
This is when I appreciate a timeline, a date, or something to string the chapters along.
But then...
I’m a lazy reader, or I have ADD, or my mind wonders...
And I often forget names if they’re not a main character or aren't mentioned enough...
Especially if the names start with same letter, or sound similar
Like: Ellen, Eleanor, Ester, etc...
Then I have to go back and find those characters to refresh my memory.
But then, it’s probably just me.
What about you?
Do you write cliffhangers? Or enjoy them?
Always,
Em-Musing
Merry Christmas!
See you in the New Year!
3 comments:
I think cliffhangers at the end of chapters are good to get the reader to turn the page, and I like to use them. I don't mind cliffhangers in some genres, like fantasy and mystery. Happy Holidays!
Some stories follow so many characters, it's hard to keep up with them when the chapters jump around.
Anonymously Esther O'Neill, East of the Sun, and yesterday, the people booked to connect us cried off, again. Wish the BBC would give up endless melodramatic clifhangers for the wretched Archers.
So far, life delivers ambiguous endings, fiction offers a chance for happy ever after. Or not, of course. ( see Oscar)
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