My debut novel, like for most authors, will always hold a special place in my heart, but it had a few things working against it. When You Are Mine was love triangle, which many readers dislike. A child died, which readers often hate. And maybe the greatest “transgression,” it was a cliffhanger.
Someone should have warned me! Reader reaction to cliffhangers can be visceral.
I recently, and informally, of course, polled 5500 readers in my online book club about their thoughts on cliffies.
“I hate them, because I want my books to be closed at the end of the story,” reader Jacqueline says.
“If I know a book is a cliffhanger, I will not read it until the next book is out! I have enough anxiety in my life,” reader Shayla muses. “I don’t need anxiety for months over fictional characters.”
Readers aren’t monolithic in their response, though. Some relish waiting with bated breath.
“I LOVE them!” reader Melissa exclaims. “Make me suffer. Shred my heart. I love nothing more than being left with my jaw dropped and having to wait for the next book. Waiting impatiently and cursing the author for the next book is all part of the fun.”
Reader Hazel likens cliffies to foreplay, explaining, “As long as it’s worth the wait, I don’t mind.”
Turns out, reader affection toward cliffies was split pretty evenly down the middle. About 50% of the readers who answered welcome them, while the other half want to strangle the authors who write them.
No matter which side of the debate readers fall on, there is a rich tradition of leaving readers panting for more. It began as a function of pragmatics and economy in the 1800s. Serializing through magazines and newspapers garnered a broader audience than full-length novels because even poorer readers could afford the short-volume publications. Serialization didn’t begin with Charles Dickens, but he is widely credited as the author who popularized the format when he published The Pickwick Papers over the course of 19 months and volumes.
Talk about patience!
It was different time, a slower pace, and consumers were not conditioned to the culture of the instantaneous.
One reader appreciates that about cliffies.
“So many things in life are instant gratification or instant news with social media etc.,” reader Denise Tung muses. “I really enjoy that element of surprise. It lets my imagination run away.”
And Dickens may have been an OG of serialization, but he certainly was not the last. Not only did he publish one of his most famous works, Great Expectations, as a serial originally, but many of our classics were first fed to the reading public in suspenseful spoonfuls, not the full meal.
A Tale of Two Cities, Anna Karenina, The Phantom of the Opera, A Farewell to Arms — all serialized. All, in essence, cliffies.