: Re: What makes a cliffhanger bad/good? In the second (not yet written) book of my novel series, the ending is a cliffhanger. A very hopeless one. The very hopelessness of it is deliberate. Not

@Tiffany377

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What is the scope of your cliffhanger? Is it broad, like at the end of the Fellowship of the Ring, with the state of multiple story arcs in question, or is it very narrow, like the closing scene of GoT Series 5 fading out on a dead Jon Snow when everyone assumed he was going to be a key player right to the end of the show? I think if you understand that, you can focus your writing appropriately.

To do it well, the roots of the cliffhanger need to go deep into the narrative structure of your novel series (both the one the cliffhanger is at the end of and at least the start of the next novel in the series) so that you ensure that plot threads that can be tied up are tied up, the right plot threads are left hanging and you keep the reader's emotional focus where you want it (the cliffhanger has to be something they really care about! See the 2019 Christmas special of Gavin and Stacey for a great example of this.)

To be really successful you also need to work out how you intend to resolve the cliffhanger in the next book. I would try to sketch this out in as much detail as the plot sketches that lead up to the cliffhanger: even if it makes no difference to your current book it will be a good investment for the future.

Though, having said that, it's also possible to do a good cliffhanger with no sequel. See the very end of Guy Gavriel Kay's "Tigana", which drops a cliffhanger just as you think everything is wrapped up. There is no sequel and I don't know that he ever planned one, but it achieves a distinct emotional wrench and frames the story very well by alluding to continuations of the characters' plotlines beyond the frame.

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