Honestly, I don't hate cliffhangers the way they're usually used nowadays. Usually, it seems like they're used to leave plots dangling for the start of the next story in the series. You still get a complete and total story - but there's also a good setup for the next story. That, I'm totally okay with.
What I'm not okay with is when they're used like they were originally.
I just read this free book. I thought it was okay, pretty cool story - even if the main character was way too innocent and naïve for me - right until the last three or four pages. If the book had ended before those pages, I might have bought the next book.
But those last handful of pages were so rushed to injure a close relative of the main character and dump a 'bet you never saw that coming' style cliffhanger at the reader for what felt like the sole purpose of convincing them to buy the next book that I decided not to.
It's kind of the same way TV shows end seasons with putting a character in peril. I'm usually okay with it, because it doesn't feel like it was only there to be a hook to make you watch the next season. Except for this season one of a show I just finished and at the end of the season the main guy has a gun to his head and the screen goes black then you hear the sound of the gun going off.
That felt like it was just there to make the viewer watch the next season. (I'm not going to, but I already kind of hated the show before that moment.)
Now, I understand the theory behind the use of cliffhangers. After all, if the character is put in dire peril, of course you have to keep reading to see them get out of it. Right?
For me it doesn't work like that at all. I see cliffhangers as insecurity from the author - because they're basically saying, my writing isn't good enough, my story isn't compelling enough to bring the readers back - plus they show a lack of faith in the readers - because it sounds an awful lot like the author is saying, the reader doesn't have enough of an attention span to come back to my story if I don't have a cliffhanger.
So, for me, these old style cliffhangers totally fail at doing what the author/creator intended them to do.
How about you? What do you think about the different versions of cliffhangers?
Logging you in...
FoolsIngenuity 93p · 462 weeks ago
I like cliffhangers when they are written well. If it doesn't come across as a cheap trick to hook you in then I'm happy. I especially dislike them when they are an attempt to hook you in to continuing a lacklustre book.
AmyAelleah 80p · 461 weeks ago
Liza Barrett · 462 weeks ago
I too just finished a book that I picked up on a sale on Audible. The book was decent enough, and for the most part I enjoyed it. It ended, I kid you not, with someone about to strike the main character down with a sword. Like, mid-swing. The plot from this first book wasn't resolved in the SLIGHTEST, and I actually found myself somewhat offended. The worst part? The second book is only available as an ebook, not on Audible. So it's a cheap ploy to get extra purchases of the second book, and they didn't even make it available in the same format!
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AmyAelleah 80p · 461 weeks ago
Oh man, that sounds like some of the stuff I've come across. I wonder if the author's don't realize that stuff like that will backfire with some readers. If something like that would happen to me, I would definitely be searching around my computer, trying to figure out where it downloaded the other audio file to. I can totally get feeling offended - though, personally, I would have went right past offended and on to rant-y. (Which is where this post came from.)
Veronika · 460 weeks ago
The only reason I don't like cliffhangers in tv shows is because I feel like the creators are ALWAYS trying to make as much seasons as possible (aka milk that cow until it DIES) and sometimes keep doing that until the show eventually gets cancelled, bc no one cares anymore, thus you'll NEVER get a real ending. I live in constant fear of my favorite shows being cancelled for this reason.
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AmyAelleah 80p · 459 weeks ago
I've had enough of my favorite shows cancelled over the years before they ever get a chance to truly build much of a story, much less the ones that get cancelled before they can resolve anything, that I've kind of gotten used to it. It's super unusual for most of my shows to make more than five seasons, and the majority of them are kind of ... each season tells a complete story. (Or they're very close to being episodic/'monster-of-the-week' type shows.) Even in shows, I find cliffhangers a little useless. I mean, either the show will get renewed because it has enough viewers, or it won't - usually, also because it didn't have enough viewers.