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Wednesday Whimsy

  Cliffhanger-01

So, do you like this method of ending stories? Leaving you, the reader, dangling with a perilous undetermined conclusion? 

My feelings vary concerning cliffhangers. If the next novel will be a year away, then No with a capital N. That's a terrible way to leave a story. However, if the next book is six months or less away from being available, it's conceivable that I will not object to a cliffhanger IF it's not a life and death circumstance. To keep a reader dangling with someone's life at stake is a gimmick especially if it's the hero's life in the balance. Danger is one thing, but life and death? That's unfair. 

Your thoughts?

 

Father, thank you again and again for your writers, authors, and stories. You provide every good and perfect gift for us whether we acknowledge you or not. Thank you is never enough. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

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4 responses to “Wednesday Whimsy”

  1. Brenda S. Anderson Avatar
    Brenda S. Anderson

    I’ve read books in series that end on a cliffhanger so you’ll have to buy the next book to find out what happens. Don’t like that. Give me a complete story in one book. Loose threads are fine, but the main storyline should be complete.
    BUT, while I don’t like cliffhangers, I do enjoy a book that doesn’t wrap everything up in a tidy bow, one that compels you to ponder the story, as long as it is a complete story.

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  2. Nicole Petrino-Salter Avatar
    Nicole Petrino-Salter

    I think those authors who leave us with a real cliffhanger better have a fan club generated by their previous novels in the series or another series. If it’s a new or newer author who attempts this with their first series: risky to assume that some of us will bother with the next book.
    Great points, Bren.

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  3. Debra Avatar
    Debra

    I like books in series, but I don’t like cliffhangers!. Also, I need to be “brought up to speed” but don’t want the previous book re-hashed in a big info dump.

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  4. Nicole Petrino-Salter Avatar
    Nicole Petrino-Salter

    Cliffhangers can be a real nuissance, and you can almost always feel them coming as the end nears. Some are bearable but not most.
    And I agree about the info-dumps. It’s a key factor for an author who wants to push all the right buttons to make even series novels self-contained units but with continuation. I think some of the thriller series authors do it best (Vince Flynn/Kyle Mills; Brad Thor; JB Turner; Mark Dawson; Blake Pierce). I will give credit to Becky Wade for her Bradshaw Series – well-connected series about three half-sisters and their parents before them.

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