This week: Cliffhangers Edited by: W.D.Wilcox  
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“Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies with the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window.”
— William Faulkner
“Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style.”
— Stephen King
“Cheat your landlord if you can and must, but do not try to shortchange the Muse. It cannot be done. You can’t fake quality any more than you can fake a good meal.”
— William S. Burroughs
“Ideas are cheap. It’s the execution that is all important.”
— George R.R. Martin
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What Is a Cliffhanger?
A cliffhanger is a plot device in which a component of a story ends unresolved, usually in a suspenseful or shocking way, in order to compel audiences to turn the page or return to the story in the next installment. A cliffhanger can end a chapter of a novel, a television episode, a scene in a film, or a serialized story (book or movie).
Tips for Writing Cliffhangers from Dan Brown
Author Dan Brown is known for his masterful use of cliffhangers in his bestselling suspense novels. “Cliffhangers pose big questions at the end of a chapter or section,” Brown says. “Typically, a cliffhanger stops during a climactic event midway through the action instead of at its natural conclusion. Is your hero about to push the villain off a racing yacht? Stop where the hero has the villain in his grip. Leave the reader thinking, ‘All right, I’ll read just one more page....’”
Tips for Writing Cliffhangers from R.L. Stine
Cliffhangers aren’t just for adults—they’re a great device to use to keep young audiences engaged in a story as well. Author R.L. Stine keeps young readers engaged through the entire Goosebumps series by employing cliffhangers. He advises writers to develop the very end of the novel first and create at least five potential cliffhangers for each chapter ending.
To successfully build up to a cliffhanger, Stine suggests using descriptive elements to remind readers of potential danger. He also advises using these structural elements to frame a cliffhanger for maximum impact.
1.Start chapters with a sense of urgency.
2.Keep passages concise and cut out superfluous descriptions.
3.Blend descriptive passages into action scenes.
4.Stay grounded in a protagonist’s sensory experience.
5.Find plausible ways to withhold key information from a reader (i.e. narrate from the point of view of a character who can’t get/doesn’t know the information).
6.Open a chapter in the middle of a scene.
7.Open a chapter or section with a question, an interesting fact, or a change of pace.
8.Use a “pulse” to remind the reader of lurking danger.
9.Use flashbacks to open new sources of suspense.
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| | | Wrongness Unleashed (E) A wanderer enters an abandoned house & awakens a darkness best left forgotten. WC: 299 |
| | Kingdom Key (ASR) Two young cousins go on a treasure hunt in a castle haunted by many beings… |
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Short Stories: February 18, 2026 Issue [#13599]
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