Let's talk about cliffhangers
Sunday, July 9th, 2006 11:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rolanniThere seem to be a group of readers (and movie viewers, too) who loathe and eschew what they term "cliffhanger" endings in novels. There also seem to be at least as many schools of thought regarding what constitutes a cliffhanger as there are readers who eschew them.
At one end of the curve, we have those who dislike books that end on a Moment of Extreme Peril-or-Drama. And at the other, we have those who cry "cliffhanger" if one thread is left untied, or one destiny unfulfilled by the time they hit "The End."
Let me say upfront that I don't mind true cliffhangers in the least. In fact, I rather like them. This may be because I grew up watching movie serials, episodes of Zorro/Spin & Marty/Corky & White Shadow/Rocky & Bullwinkle/&c, reading serialized newspaper comics, and listening to serialized radio stories. (I also have no trouble remembering what happened in Book One of a given series, and so don't have to re-read it when Book Two comes out. My brain, alas, is wired to remember story, which it faithfully does, despite the gallons of other stuff that daily pass through it unremarked and unrecalled.) What I object to in a novel is a story that Just Stops.
Just Stopping, IMHO, is different from a cliffhanger in several important ways. A cliffhanger ending, properly done, happens after minor-but-important story points have been resolved, and things seem to be coasting to a denouement, all according to the Chart of How A Story Is Constructed that was all the rage when I was trapped in high school English classes. So, minor points resolved at peak, slow slide, then, instead of the narrative continuing downhill toward gentle closure, it takes a sharp left turn, the stakes are abruptly escalated, our characters are in motion toward a Helluva Mess(tm) -- and that's a wrap. To Be Continued Next Time. Note that a properly done cliffhanger is a conscious decision on the part of the author, i.e. She Meant to Do That.
For the record, please note that a cliffhanger at the end of a standalone novel is Bad Form, though it is not necessary, IMHO, to tie up Every Single Thread into pretty bows.
Just Stopping, now, has a whole different feel to it -- the entire story is still in motion, all plot points in play, you're moving along at a steady pace and "The End" appears out of nowhere, leaving all suspended, no closure at all.
Happily, novels that Just Stop aren't, in my experience, all that common. They may be slightly rarer than those novels in which the reader is allowed to feel the motion of the characters beyond the ending of the book.
The master of that effect, IMHO, is Dick Francis, whose characters absolutely are living and in motion on either side of the novel, that is, they are going about their business, acting out of the necessity of their own beings, doing their jobs, when Something Happens. The action of the characters from that point until the resolution of the problem born of that Happening, is caught, like a snapshot, between the covers of the book. The characters, however, are independent of the story -- they continue onward, going about their business, acting out of the necessity of their own beings, and doing their jobs.
That sort of thing is not a cliffhanger, it is a Moment of Art.
So -- what does "cliffhanger" mean to you, and why do you or don't you care for them?
At one end of the curve, we have those who dislike books that end on a Moment of Extreme Peril-or-Drama. And at the other, we have those who cry "cliffhanger" if one thread is left untied, or one destiny unfulfilled by the time they hit "The End."
Let me say upfront that I don't mind true cliffhangers in the least. In fact, I rather like them. This may be because I grew up watching movie serials, episodes of Zorro/Spin & Marty/Corky & White Shadow/Rocky & Bullwinkle/&c, reading serialized newspaper comics, and listening to serialized radio stories. (I also have no trouble remembering what happened in Book One of a given series, and so don't have to re-read it when Book Two comes out. My brain, alas, is wired to remember story, which it faithfully does, despite the gallons of other stuff that daily pass through it unremarked and unrecalled.) What I object to in a novel is a story that Just Stops.
Just Stopping, IMHO, is different from a cliffhanger in several important ways. A cliffhanger ending, properly done, happens after minor-but-important story points have been resolved, and things seem to be coasting to a denouement, all according to the Chart of How A Story Is Constructed that was all the rage when I was trapped in high school English classes. So, minor points resolved at peak, slow slide, then, instead of the narrative continuing downhill toward gentle closure, it takes a sharp left turn, the stakes are abruptly escalated, our characters are in motion toward a Helluva Mess(tm) -- and that's a wrap. To Be Continued Next Time. Note that a properly done cliffhanger is a conscious decision on the part of the author, i.e. She Meant to Do That.
For the record, please note that a cliffhanger at the end of a standalone novel is Bad Form, though it is not necessary, IMHO, to tie up Every Single Thread into pretty bows.
Just Stopping, now, has a whole different feel to it -- the entire story is still in motion, all plot points in play, you're moving along at a steady pace and "The End" appears out of nowhere, leaving all suspended, no closure at all.
Happily, novels that Just Stop aren't, in my experience, all that common. They may be slightly rarer than those novels in which the reader is allowed to feel the motion of the characters beyond the ending of the book.
The master of that effect, IMHO, is Dick Francis, whose characters absolutely are living and in motion on either side of the novel, that is, they are going about their business, acting out of the necessity of their own beings, doing their jobs, when Something Happens. The action of the characters from that point until the resolution of the problem born of that Happening, is caught, like a snapshot, between the covers of the book. The characters, however, are independent of the story -- they continue onward, going about their business, acting out of the necessity of their own beings, and doing their jobs.
That sort of thing is not a cliffhanger, it is a Moment of Art.
So -- what does "cliffhanger" mean to you, and why do you or don't you care for them?
