You don’t have to write thrillers to plot a good cliffhanger. Some writing advice suggests ending every chapter on a cliffhanger, which seems a bit much to us, if not outright formulaic, but every writer should know how to build dramatic tension and raise questions the reader wants answered. At heart, you are withholding information from the reader to create suspense and to encourage them to turn the page.
In a post on Writer Unboxed, Sarah Penner suggests how to place, structure, and execute cliffhangers. One easy method is a POV switch. If your story is told through multiple POVs, cut a scene at a dramatic moment and switch to a different character vantage. “It will frustrate your reader in a strangely satisfying way—especially if your characters and timelines are equally compelling and the reader is anxious to resolve previous cliffhangers you’ve set up in the story,” Penner writes.
However, don’t wait to long to resolve it. Cliffhangers should be short-term. If you leave a character hanging, you should pick them up either in the next scene or the next scene that features them.
Penner also says that cliffhangers don’t need to revolve around major moments. Letting a character make a discovery – but not telling the reader what it is – is a valid cliffhanger moment. Keep them guessing – briefly – about what shocked your protagonist. “Cliffhangers can and should be used throughout a story, meaning they can relate to subplots or scene-level struggles,” Penner writes.
Planting cliffhangers means you should have a map of how and when you will reveal information to the reader. Pick the reveals that have the biggest emotional punch. Those are probably your cliffhanger moments. Penner also suggests there’s a good time and place for cliffhangers.
“Avoid using cliffhangers when characters are musing on problems, or when you’re stating thematic takeaways for the story,” she says. Other scenes include chases or escapes; the arrival of a new character or an interruption of some kind; a physical discovery; a dramatic increase in the stakes; or a moral or motivational question.
