No Love For "Cliffhangers"... Why?

[SSobotkaJr]

Recently, it's been within my pov to notice that people don't give much respect or love to stories that are posted in short segments and usually end on a cliffhanger's edge.

Personally, I can't come to grips with this... since, IMO, it's like a sweet confection that you only get a small taste of. That once second of estcasy that makes you want to come back for more.

Yet, on one of my latest efforts -- as story called "Can I Make It Up...?" -- I've gotten more negative comments than any of my previous erotica efforts to date. All along the lines of "You're no better than a cock-teasing bitch!" and that I should go away and come back when I can do better.

Does anyone else notice this trend of attitude towards similar stories that follow the "cliffhanger" format?

 

[Guest]

Recently, it's been within my pov to notice that people don't give much respect or love to stories that are posted in short segments and usually end on a cliffhanger's edge.

Personally, I can't come to grips with this... since, IMO, it's like a sweet confection that you only get a small taste of. That once second of estcasy that makes you want to come back for more.

Yet, on one of my latest efforts -- as story called "Can I Make It Up...?" -- I've gotten more negative comments than any of my previous erotica efforts to date. All along the lines of "You're no better than a cock-teasing bitch!" and that I should go away and come back when I can do better.

Does anyone else notice this trend of attitude towards similar stories that follow the "cliffhanger" format?

I've not noticed the trend you mention (there are so many stories here) but I can speculate on the reason for a poor reaction.

A majority of people read stories here to help them masterbate. That's all they want. A cliffhanger is by definition a tease -- it stops you short of the climax and makes you wait.

Stopping someone short of climax while masterbating is bound to get a negative reaction.

 

[3113]

I think it has to do with the fact that everyone and their brother has been doing cliffhangers of late. Novels end on cliffhangers and have sequels. Some movies can end on cliffhangers...wait till next year for the next part! Every television show seems to have cliffhangers for each episode--and then, as if that weren't enough, a big cliffhanger for the finale...and you have to wait several months to find out who's alive, dead, etc.

Yes, sometime a cliffhanger is sweet. But after a while, your audience gets sick and tired of them.

What you're facing is cliffhanger overload. People tired of being teased and lead on and tricked into reading a story that is NOT a complete story.

Question: did you put "Chapter 01" after your title? If not, they might have a reason to be angry. They thought it was a complete story and it wasn't. It was just the first chapter.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

My opinion is that cliffhangers, unless exceedingly well writen come across as contrived and delibaerte manipulation of the reader's emotions by the author.

We all mean to manipulate our reader's emotions, it part and parcel of telling a story, but it's usually not so blatantly obvious. Some shows, the dulkes of hazard come to mind, actually poked fun at this with the comercial breaks always left at some moment of action so the narrator could make a droll comment.

In a lot of televison you don't even need a clock to tell when the hour is about up, the action is building to the point where they can leave you with Fearless Fred hanging off the cliff, or Jane Bondage in the cluthes of Dr. Neafarious. You can see it coming.

One thing about erotica is that you are shooting at provoking a viceral response as well as an emotional one. that visceral response is usually the kind wehre uncle Joe is slowly wanking so as not to shoot before the end or aunt betty has the vibe on low and is planning to hit the OH MY GOD setting at just the right time. You're playing with fire if you leave them short of that moment.

 

[Guest]

Another thing I've noticed is that some of the cliffhanger stories are extremely short. Some of them are barely over the Lit minimum.

That strikes some people as "cheating" somehow, when the writer submits the story in pieces when it would flow far better as one complete unit.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

I've a slightly different take on all this.

IMHO, the negative reaction was not directed so much at the cliffhanger, but with the choice of where to leave old Cliff hanging. The middle of a sex scene with no reason to stop other than the author's whim is NOT, I say again, NOT, a good place to leave readers hanging with a terse "to be continued."

If the cliffhanger occured at a plausable spot in the story, say after the first round of lovemaking when some feeling of guilt might be expected, the reaction would probably have been less hostile. It might even have worked in the middle of the sex scene IF there was a logical break in the action, such as their parents coming in or friends knocking on the door.

In my experience, cliffhangers usually involve some suspense, "Will Pauline survive her latest peril?" IMHO there was no suspense to the one in question, just delayed gratification.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Typo Fu Master]

I haven't had too much experience with cliffhangers, mainly because my trips to the story section are sporadic, and I tend to pick the ones that aren't part of a series. If I did happen across one, my reaction would probably depend on how regularly the writer submitted stories. If I could count on not having to wait too long, I don't think it would bother me, but if I really got into one, and the writer only submitted once in a blue moon, I'd be upset at having to wait.

 

[LadyJeanne]

I read through your story, and I can see how people might have their expectations disappointed by your first chapter. YOu didn't indicate that there were additional chapters to come (first chapter was not labeled as such), and you cut off the action just as he was about to go down on her...so the wankers were only treated to the build-up without any release.

If you end a chapter during a sex scene that's barely gotten started, that will piss people off. I wouldn't call that a cliffhanger, though - there's no mystery of what will happen next. You've just cut the action off right then. That's ok in books where the next chapter is right there, but on Lit where there's time between chapters and the reader doesn't know another chapter is coming, it's an odd place to stop and can be seen as a tease.

The second chapter ends on what I would call a cliffhanger in terms of identifying who the woman is that shows up out of nowhere and what will happen now they've been discovered. You also have 'completed' sex in that chapter, so your readers aren't left with an unsatisfied feeling, like they've been served an appetizer without the main course.

By the time you end the third chapter with Daddy showing up, though, it feels much less like a cliffhanger. I say that because you've established that whoever shows up will join in the action, so the "OMG, what's going to happen now that we've been found out?" tension isn't really tension anymore - we know what's going to happen. You've also established that this is a chaptered story, so the readers' expectations are different.

Hope that helps.

 

[LadyJeanne]

I've a slightly different take on all this.

IMHO, the negative reaction was not directed so much at the cliffhanger, but with the choice of where to leave old Cliff hanging. The middle of a sex scene with no reason to stop other than the author's whim is NOT, I say again, NOT, a good place to leave readers hanging with a terse "to be continued."

I didn't even notice the "to be continued"

*must get eyes checked*

 

[JamesSD]

I agree heartily with most everything that's been written here.

TV shows use cliffhangers to jerk the audience around and force them to stay tuned and not change the channel, or tune in next week. They have commercial interest to do so; ratings and advertising.

An erotic story has neither, so the need for segmentation isn't there nearly so much. In fact, it can disrupt the flow of a story, building to a nice climax.