The Word Cloud

How do you finish a story with a cliffhanger? What do you think?

I personally feel that leaving a cliffhanger is not the best way to finish a novel, however, under certain circumstances it can be achievable by saying something like, "as the man slowly walked towards him, he turned and ran...".
That would be a good cliffhanger.

I think a cliffhanger is essential at the end of a novel because...

Depends on the circumstances, really. Is it the first or second book in a trilogy? Or is it the third?

CWB makes a good point about series... if you know you've got another book in you, and your ending is strong enough that readers will actively seek out this next book, then a cliffhanger can really work.
However, I know I've read some books which are going really well and you're getting closer and closer to the end and you're thinking "How the hell're they gonna get out of this one?!" and the truth is, the author didn't know either, so the cliff hanger they used was a bit of a cop out because they didn't know how to end it...
Just my view :)

it's the first, but i reckon i've got another one or two ready.

A few of my trump cards:

-Going on a killing spree. (Harsh but I think it works)
-Bring a dead characer back to life.
-Something un-expexcted ie a character has a baby.
-A major disaster like a bomb going off or an earthquake etc
-A fire It's not clear who's survived.
-Love triangle comes to a hault.
-Drugs overdose?
-Alien abuduction?
-Arrest by the police---for a crime that the other characters don't know about that shocks them.


I could go on all night..

Sorry for the bad spelling it's quite late and I'm quite tired he he


Harry

A cliff hanger could also be when they have sorted everything out, but then a person who they think they have killed could just be caught in the corner of their eye.

I have finally finished the book and I used the killing spree and the bringing a dead person back to life, thx guys!!!

ohh good good

My personal favourite cliffhanger is the bringing a character back from the dead for like three lines, give them one piece of dialogue then end.

As a random example of this think of the end of the second Pirates of the Caribbian movie when the dead captain who's name I can't spell just walks down the stairs delivers one brilliant line then the movie ends. There wasn't a person sitting near me that don't gasp or howl or demand the movie keep going.

Genius.

Joey

Hmm I honestly dont know how I feel about cliffhangers.

Mainly because I have so many ideas for my characters I just want to put them all into one book. But if by some freak of fate you did somehow get published then you'll have used up all your ideas and have none left if asked to write follow ons.

it's a tough one

Cliffhangers are a tricky one. I personally like the "Kill someone off a couple of pages from the end and leave the reader feeling totally uncertain as to how the story will continue without them." But that's just me, and I ain't normal :)

Hm I believe I have a love hate realtionship with cliffhangers.

I hate them at the time because I think "Well what the hell happens next?!" like with the end of Dead Man's Chest and An Inspector Calls.
But I love them because you, as a viewer or reader can then make up what happens next and hey presto you have a fanfiction you can post on fanfiction.net.

In my year two - three days of writing I often wrote cliffhangers to end my weekly show and tell series of books. But as I got older I stopped writing cliffhangers because I got paranoid that people would think I didn't know what could happen to end it. Which is how I feel with some books.

So depending on if you know there will be a sequal or not, it's best not to write the ending as a cliffhanger says she who knows the end of her book is a cliff hanger involving a fire.

cliffhangers are usually the best way to end a novel, or any story for that matter. they build the suspence till the next book so in the time it takes the reader to get the next book, all they can think about is the question all writers want the reader to be asking. "what happens next?". cliffhangers should either so big and bold its confusing (risky), so unexpected it makes the readers jaw hit the floor (hard), or so subtle, they only realise what has happened some time after finishing the book (which takes practice). if it is in the middle of those three it wont work. in say a trilogy, the first book should have a subtle cliffhanger, the second a shocking one, and the third should look like it will end in a confusing one, but then resolve, but not Necessarily in a happy ending...

Please please PLEASE don't use an elipsis for your cliffhanger! This is so cliche I hate them. It also ruins the dramatic effect as it looks like you felt the need to add dramatic effect, thus making it horribly fake. I would agree that a killing spree is an effective ending, but don't do a Macbeth. Leave some characters alive at the end. If you're writing in first person I'd recommend either don't kill off your main character, or only kill them off and no one else. The last moments of that character can be very powerful and it gives you the option to change POV for the sequel.
Just some thoughts, hope they help :)