Comments on: Cliffhangers, Good and Bad http://www.saalonmuyo.com/2009/10/22/cliffhangers-good-and-bad/ Flashlights and Explosions Sat, 31 Jul 2010 23:07:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: saalon http://www.saalonmuyo.com/2009/10/22/cliffhangers-good-and-bad/comment-page-1/#comment-1535 saalon Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:14:40 +0000 http://www.saalonmuyo.com/?p=661#comment-1535 I don't think you get the same kind of poor cliffhanger use in book chapters that you get in television episodes, if for no other reason than that novels don't have the same incentive to maintain the status quo of the story that television shows do. Which is to say, I think there are plenty of novel writers who aren't very good with cliffhangers, but they're less obvious and frustrating because every chapter doesn't go back to "And then, nothing changed!" Though the later Robert Jordan novels come to mind, with his use of cliffhangers that, rather than resolve poorly, barely resolve at all. There are only so many chapters of new threats being introduced and none being defeated that you can take before it becomes a bore. I don’t think you get the same kind of poor cliffhanger use in book chapters that you get in television episodes, if for no other reason than that novels don’t have the same incentive to maintain the status quo of the story that television shows do.

Which is to say, I think there are plenty of novel writers who aren’t very good with cliffhangers, but they’re less obvious and frustrating because every chapter doesn’t go back to “And then, nothing changed!”

Though the later Robert Jordan novels come to mind, with his use of cliffhangers that, rather than resolve poorly, barely resolve at all. There are only so many chapters of new threats being introduced and none being defeated that you can take before it becomes a bore.

]]> By: Steven Till http://www.saalonmuyo.com/2009/10/22/cliffhangers-good-and-bad/comment-page-1/#comment-1529 Steven Till Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:41:25 +0000 http://www.saalonmuyo.com/?p=661#comment-1529 Good post. I was going to ask -- until I read the next to last paragraph -- what you thought of authors who use cliffhangers at the end of every chapter or scene change. You've mentioned Martin and Kay as two authors who use this technique well; who do you feel uses it poorly? Good post. I was going to ask — until I read the next to last paragraph — what you thought of authors who use cliffhangers at the end of every chapter or scene change. You’ve mentioned Martin and Kay as two authors who use this technique well; who do you feel uses it poorly?

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