Cliffhangers in writing
A cliffhanger is a narrative device used by writers to maintain suspense and engage readers by leaving a story unresolved at a critical moment. This technique compels readers to continue to the next chapter or installment, often introducing shocking twists, accidents, or difficult choices that heighten tension. The term "cliffhanger" is commonly linked to Victorian writer Thomas Hardy, whose 1873 novel featured a character literally hanging off a cliff. While cliffhangers can be found in various genres, they are particularly prevalent in suspenseful narratives such as thrillers and mysteries.
Different types of cliffhangers include shocking twists, such as unexpected betrayals or deaths, and situations where characters are pressed for time or face impossible decisions. Classic examples across literature include George R.R. Martin's "The Red Wedding" in *A Storm of Swords* and the folktale of Scheherazade in *One Thousand and One Nights*. Cliffhangers effectively enhance storytelling by leaving readers eager to uncover what happens next, making them a popular tool for authors seeking to captivate their audience's imagination.
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Cliffhangers in writing
A cliffhanger is a narrative plot device that writers use to keep their readers engaged from one chapter to the next in a novel or from one novel to the next in a series. Cliffhangers leave a story unresolved in a suspenseful or shocking way. This compels readers to turn the page or read the next installment. While cliffhangers have been used in writing since the Middle Ages, the term “cliffhanger” is often attributed to Victorian writer Thomas Hardy. In his 1873 novel A Pair of Blue Eyes, Hardy leaves a character literally hanging off a cliff at the end of a chapter. Cliffhangers became popular when narrative fiction was published serially, or in parts. Much of Victorian author Charles Dickens’ work was published episodically in magazines. Dickens used cliffhangers to make readers anxiously await the next installment.
Background
Writers use cliffhangers to build suspense, enticing readers to purchase the next installment or read the next chapter to satisfy their curiosity. Writers use different types of cliffhangers to make their writing more intriguing and make readers eager to continue. The following are among the most common types of cliffhangers:
A Shocking Twist
Writers may include a major plot twist at the end of a story or novel that changes the dynamics between characters or characters and their world. A shocking twist, also called a revelation, might be a betrayal, an unexpected death, or the appearance of someone or something unexpected. Author George R.R. Martin uses this type of cliffhanger in his novel, A Storm of Swords (2000). (Martin’s novels were the basis for the hit television drama Game of Thrones.) In the chapter “The Red Wedding,” Roslin Frey and Edmure Tully marry. Their guests at the reception include Robb Stark, the King of the North, and his pregnant wife, Talisa Stark. The musicians at the wedding are actually crossbowmen, who have come to murder the guests in revenge for Stark breaking a wedding pack. Stark, his pregnant wife, and his mother are slaughtered along with many others. “The Red Wedding” leaves readers wondering which characters have been killed and which are still alive.
A Terrible Accident
With this type of cliffhanger, some type of accident occurs at the last possible moment. The characters may not know what has happened or may find out at the very end. For example, a character may discover that the woman he loves is having an affair with his best friend. He speeds away in his car and, in the last paragraph, loses control of the vehicle and drives head-on into a large truck. Readers are left wondering if he is dead, and, if he is, how his death will affect the plot.
Running Out of Time
Writers who use a running-out-of-time cliffhanger put their characters in a perilous situation—they have minutes, or even seconds, to escape from a deadly situation. In Thomas Hardy’s novel A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873), Elfride Swancourt is walking with Henry Knight, her love interest. Knight slips and falls off a cliff but manages to hang on. Swancourt must quickly make a rope from her clothing to save him before he loses his strength and falls.
An Impossible Choice
An impossible choice is another type of cliffhanger in which a character must make a difficult choice. Most often, either option is devastating. For example, a character may have to choose between pressing a button to launch a nuclear bomb in New York City or in Los Angeles. In Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, Sethe, the main character, chooses to kill her children so they do not have to grow up enslaved and endure the horrors that she, herself, has lived through.
Overview
While cliffhangers may be used in any genre, or type, of narrative, they are most common in suspense novels. Thrillers, mysteries, adventure stories, and any other type of literature that uses tension to propel the plot and keep readers on edge fall into this category. The following are some examples:
Cliffhangers are used often in the science fiction novel Zoo (2012) by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge. A sequel to the novel, Zoo 2, was released in 2016, as a novella. The novel follows Jackson Oz, a scientist who repeatedly tries to get others to review the data he has been collecting on the increasing number of animal attacks on people. He travels to Botswana and survives an attack by a group of male lions that kill about one hundred people. When Oz returns home, he discovers that his pet chimpanzee has killed his girlfriend. As the years pass, more and more animals begin killing people, including the US president’s daughter, who is killed by her dog. Patterson uses cliffhangers throughout the novel to keep readers turning the pages to see which animal will kill a character next.
One of the earliest literary cliffhangers occurs in One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Eastern folktales published during the Middle Ages. In one tale, King Shahryar marries a woman each day but kills her the next day. Scheherazade, his new wife, tricks him into keeping her alive. After the king marries her, he orders her to be hanged the next day. Scheherazade tells him a story that night that ends with a cliffhanger, piquing his interest. She does this night after night, and he repeatedly postpones her hanging. Eventually, the king falls in love with her and spares her life.
J. K. Rowling includes a cliffhanger at the end of Chapter 34 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows (2007). Harry knows that the only way to kill Voldemort, his archenemy, is to let Voldemort kill him. He hides under an invisibility cloak and goes into the forest to meet Voldemort. Harry finds him and takes off his invisibility cloak so that Voldemort can see him. Harry faces him and sees a flash of green light, the Killing Curse, which means he is about to die. Readers do not learn that Harry survives until later in the novel.
Bibliography
Aroesti, Rachel, et al. “’Cliffhangers Should Be Illegal!’: the Most Annoying Things About TV.” The Guardian, 7 May 2021, www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/may/07/cliffhangers-should-be-the-most-annoying-things-about-tv. Accessed 13 June 2024.
Bassist, Elissa. “Cliffhangers Are Ruining the Golden Age of TV.” The New York Times, 13 July 2021, www.nytimes.com/2017/07/13/opinion/sunday/emmys-cliffhangers-are-ruining-the-golden-age-of-tv.html. Accessed 13 July 2024.
Dawn, Raffel. “The Best Cliffhanger Endings of the Past Fifteen Years.” HuffPost, 1 Dec. 2025, www.huffpost.com/entry/books-with-best-cliffhangers‗n‗564f6c2ae4b0879a5b0ae41e. Accessed 13 June 2024.
Gambini, Bert. “UB Study Finds That Cliffhangers Keep Audiences . . . [to be continued].” University of Buffalo, 16 June 2023, www.buffalo.edu/ubnow/stories/2023/06/hahn-cliffhangers.html. Accessed 13 June 2024.
Webling, Cat. “The Author’s Guide to Cliffhangers.” Laterpress, 8 Nov. 2022, www.laterpress.com/blog/the-authors-guide-to-cliffhangers. Accessed 13 June 2024.