So there I was reading a blog from Wise Ink about the ups and downs of Amazon’s new page count policies for Kindle Unlimited payouts. I ran across this concern:
“But no piece of writing should have a cliffhanger at the end of each and every chapter.”
That’s one of the dangers? Compelling page-turners?
Um…hm.
I think some people (a vocal minority) say they hate cliffhangers. It’s that thing that keeps us reading and keeps us coming back to television shows from week to week and year to year. Even if we think we hate it, we keep coming back.
Dickens did it. Many authors I love do it. I think every chapter deserves a word button that encourages the reader to stay up all night and get fired for falling asleep at work the next day. Isn’t that part of the fun?
Wise Ink is a fine blog with a lot of great content. I’m not crapping all over them for one statement. Let’s not make it about Wise Ink.
Instead, I will ask this:
Look at that bold assertion and let me know: Why or why not?
Discuss.
Am I way wrong?
Thank you.
Filed under: Amazon, Amazon, Amazon KU, Amazon.com, Robert Chazz Chute, writing
C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m 
No piece of writing should have a cliffhanger at the end of every chapter? Really? Not even a thriller or suspense novel? I don’t buy it. How about this instead: Critics should avoid all-or-nothing categorical statements that inevitably fail to account for everything in the category.
Reblogged this on Armand Rosamilia and commented:
No cliffhangers? #dumb
Quite frankly, cliffhangers begin to get tiring very quickly for me.Call me naive or old-fashioned but I want the writing to be of a quality that has me want to read it, not need some trick to keep me going. I have noticed something interesting this year with several very popular TV series, They didn’t end their year with a cliffhanger, the usual choice in the past. The last episodes took the story to a natural stopping point and aroused curiosity rather than nervous tension.
Interesting, though I think my quibble with the statement is that it seems to assume cliffhangers are inextricably linked with literature of low quality. What if the writing is of a quality that makes you want to read it and also includes cliffhangers? I don’t think it’s a gimmick. I think it’s a crucial storytelling device.
I think it will be an interesting experiment. Some stories do well with cliff hangers at the end of every chapter.
As authors, most of us wait and hope like teenage girls of olden days… Will the reader turn the page? Will that cute boy call?