Where/How to end a chapter?

[LaRascasse]

What do you prefer?

1. Cliffhanger ending

2. Finishing off one segment and wrapping up everything related to that part

3. Finishing off one part and just introducing what's next

I usually go with 1.

 

[StrangeLife]

What do you prefer?

1. Cliffhanger ending

But only if you have the next chapter ready to submit. If its a year or two out in the future, your readers might hunt you down and force you to watch Oprah re-runs as punishment....

 

[A_Little_Show]

[deleted]

 

[sr71plt]

IMO, cliffhanger--unless it's a "collection of related standalones" approach, in which case they should end in a resolution of the main thread of that story and satisfactory/believable, if not close-ended, resolved for now stopping points for minor threads that are major threads in other chapters/segments.

 

[sr71plt]

I was taught that every paragraph should have a beginning, middle, and end.

Yes, well, that's for a high school theme. Commercial fiction is much more fluid and loose than that (which, apparently, you've found out).

 

[A_Little_Show]

[deleted]

 

[JKendallDane]

I enjoy using cliffhangers but depending on the plot line and overall length, sometimes you can only work in so many good ones at the proper time.

Doing a concise wrap up that includes a teaser for the next installment seems to work well too.

 

[Bramblethorn]

What do you prefer?

1. Cliffhanger ending

2. Finishing off one segment and wrapping up everything related to that part

3. Finishing off one part and just introducing what's next

I usually go with 1.

#1 and #3 are two sides of the same dramatic coin: tantalising the reader with an incomplete story as bait to keep reading. Both can work well; I think the choice depends on whether you feel the need to mix it up for variety, and on the specifics of those segments: what's the breakpoint that leaves you with the most suspense?

For instance, if I've got a story about an improbable chain of events involving a goldfish and home-made nitroglycerin... as soon as I introduce those two elements, the reader has a pretty good idea of how this is likely to end. Suspense is stronger if I take a "teaser" approach: end the previous chapter with "that was before we exploded my goldfish" and let the reader puzzle over how a goldfish explodes.

But if I have something about a character in a complex situation who has to make an important choice, it may make more sense to set up the dilemma and leave the choice as a cliffhanger.

#2: because if you use cliffhangers/teasers all the time, it can start getting monotonous, and because some stories just don't work well when split up.

 

[Swilly]

I've never studied writing as many of you probably have, so take this with a grain of salt. For me, I just do it by feel based upon the overall story line and what has happened in a particular section. I do pay some attention to chapter length, preferring to stay around two "Literotica pages". That may seem a bit silly to the true writers here, but I'm guessing there are quite a few readers who won't read an entire 15 or 20 page story.

Depending upon the story line, I might end a chapter in a way that allows me to either come back with a new chapter or not, without making it seem that the story is incomplete.

 

[PennLady]

I think when I write a multi-chapter story, I like to end a chapter so that the situation has been advanced but there is more to come. So it's a cliffhanger, but not in always in a drastic way.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

Generally speaking, I prefer to end a chapter following some type of conclusion: that could be the culmination of a sexual situation; the end of a process, like an arrest or the conclusion of a contest; or a game changing reveal. I think my favorite is the reveal, but it doesn't work for every story. I ended the first two chapters of Deep Undercover with twists that completely threw the reader for a loop. I loved it, and from the reactions, so did they.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Its always best to end a chapter with USPS delivering a letter from the IRS, or 2 police cars parking in the driveway while Imperial Storm Troopers race about the yard, or a butcher knife slicing thru the shower curtain, or the bowling ball rolling past the bedroom door and down the stairs, or opening the bedroom door at night and seeing a cadaverous child looking back, or going to tuck the boy into bed, and he's feeding the $700 puppy to his snake.

 

[sr71plt]

Which, of course, you would consider to be erotica.

 

[lovecraft68]

I've only written one series here and what I did was envision it as a TV series.

Each chapter had something happen that would be enough to give the chapter stand alone merit, but something else that would further a plot a little more. My ending would be conclusive for the chapter, but hint at what was next.

 

[jomar]

I'll go with cliffhanger, for the most part.

 

[RoyceConnors]

I like to use both ways of ending a chapter. If the action is a continuation, cliffhangers are best. If a part of the story has been told, the chapter should end it and make it move to the next phase of the story. Each works great, as long as they're used correctly. If not it'll kill the chapter/story in a heartbeat. If it's a cliffhanger, have the next chapter ready to go or face the wrath of the readers, lol

ETA It seems ending a cliffhanger with only a dialogue ending pisses readers off. Seems some form of action is needed to make them happy to wait. If I added the first paragraph of the next chapter to the end of the one before, it would have played out better for them.