To cliffhang or not to cliffhang? New question on page 5

carinasanfey said:

I think it's important to have both some resolution and some cliffhangeriness - leave the reader feeling satisfied that they've read a complete story, but also give them reason to read the next one. Some popular examples of this would be:

1) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - he thwarts Quirrell/Voldemort and saves the day (resolution), but he knows there's something major Dumbledore isn't telling him about his connection with Voldemort (cliffhanger).

2) The Hunger Games - she survives the games and emerges victorious (resolution), but she hasn't got a flipping clue what's going to happen with the whole Gale/Peeta thing (cliffhanger).

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This!

I've read books that ended with a feeling of 'finished-ness' and yet there were still questions flying around in my brain so I really looked forward to the next book to find out about those things. Sometimes they're minor things, sometimes more major. I've also read books that seemed to just stop. . . . if they were going for a cliffhanger, they failed.

I think it works best if there's a well defined end to the longer arc . . . . HP was going to be 7 books period. So you could read each with some confidence that questions would be answered at some point -- even as you realize, reading each subsequent book, that new questions would come up as well. But it worked. Game of Thrones, on the other hand, for me, left NOTHING resolved at the end of the first book -- except the death of the most likable, sympathetic character of the hundred (it seemed) I'd met. Sure, lots of questions were left unanswered, but I didn't care about getting those answers so I didn't bother to go further in the series. Especially as there's no confidence it will actually END. (Never was into soap operas. )

Generally: if there's a true cliff hanger, it better be a darn good book to start with or else it's not going to get ME to read the next one. I think that's the danger. I think some feel like 'cliffhanger' will pull people into the next book. And it might -- but only if they care At ALL about the characters and story in the first place! A mediocre story with flat characters could end in the biggest cliffhanger ever devised -- and a lot of readers will say, "meh, let 'em fall off the cliff." But if you have a great story and characters that readers are interested in, you can do almost anything. Though you do risk ire if there's not some semblance of resolution, as carina says.

Here's my thing:

I've inadvertently built in an expectation, and progressively built an answer to it. The 2nd book ended with a battle that went a lot easier than it could have. And where I'm at in the current book, the reader is coming to believe that although whats being prepared will come too late, the force accumulated will win, and as time passes, more and more easily.

The obvious ending to this book, goes like this:

"We are so scr*wed!"

It will be totally unexpected and that is without actually telling the reader what the problem is, but leaving them to imagine it.

Now do I leave that as a chapter ending, or a book ending? Thats my dilemma.

By the time I get to the this point, my book will be about the size of the previous one.