Writing Mistakes Writers Make: Confusing Open Endings and Cliffhangers
Everyone makes mistakes—even writers—but that’s OK because each mistake is a great learning opportunity. The Writer’s Digest team has witnessed many mistakes over the years, so we started this series to help identify them early in the process. Note: The mistakes in this series aren’t focused on grammar rules, though we offer help in that area as well.
Rather, we’re looking at bigger picture mistakes and mishaps, including the error of using too much exposition, hiding your pitch, or chasing trends. This week’s writing mistake writers make is confusing open endings and cliffhangers.
Writing Mistakes Writers Make: Confusing Open Endings and Cliffhangers
Last month, I talked about how writers may feel the need to answer every question they pose in their writing—and I argue that the point of art is simply to pose the questions, not necessarily to answer them. Not answering questions can feel unnatural to our process, given we’re always asked questions like “What’s this about?” “What does this mean?” and “How will this tie up in the end?”
Now, don’t mistake my point: Choosing not to answer every question is as much a part of the planning process as plotting everything out. It’s an intentional choice what to leave up in the air and what to make concrete and clear in our manuscripts. In many ways, your story may be leading to an unanswered question intentionally, which requires you to know beforehand that you’re not going to answer it. Other times, you may be leading your readers to a major “OMG” moment that closes the book, perhaps in the hopes of starting a series.
This is the one of the biggest difference between an open ending and a cliffhanger, and confusing the two could lead to frustration for your readers, and not the good kind of frustration.
Let’s start with laying out the differences between these two devices.
What is a Cliffhanger?
A cliffhanger ends a section of a story or ends the story completely with a big, dramatic question. Oftentimes, cliffhangers leave the characters in uniquely challenging situations or reveals to them new information that changes the course of their stories. Cliffhangers encourage readers to keep reading, and when done well, almost ensures that they will.
Ending a story on a cliffhanger suggests to the reader that more is coming, that this is part of a series, and is something you, the writer, must consider at the start. Have you already thought of the next book? Are you ending on a cliffhanger because it’s the right choice for the story, or are you doing it for the shock? If it’s to serve the story, and if it’s truly shocking and done well, you may have acquired for yourself a band of faithful readers.
Consider The Hunger Games series, noted often for Suzanne Collins’ ability to write cliffhangers, both throughout the books themselves and in the way they conclude. The Hunger Games and Catching Fire both end on cliffhangers, leaving the reader knowing that the overarching story is unfinished, and more answers are coming. Catching Fire, in particular, leaves readers desperate for the third.
I use The Hunger Games as an example for this reason: A friend of mine in college was reading the series for the first time, and as she was nearing the end of Catching Fire, she couldn’t imagine how things were going to wrap up given how few pages were left. She didn’t realize this was a trilogy–she thought it was a duology. So, when she got to the last line of the second book (IYKYK), her immediate reaction was anger. She slammed the book shut, ran down to the living room where her roommate was—who’d read the books—and screamed, “Is there a third Hunger Games book??”
Relieved to hear that the answer was “yes,” they left that afternoon to purchase the third and final installment. She simply couldn’t wait to see what happened next.
To me, this illustrates the major difference between a cliffhanger and an open ending, and the dangers of confusing the two. A cliffhanger with nothing following it is like your favorite TV show being unceremoniously cancelled. If you’re not planning on continuing the story but want to leave your readers wanting a little bit more, consider shifting gears toward an open ending.
What Is An Open Ending?
An open ending is when a story finishes with no certain conclusion or resolution. The author intentionally leaves questions unanswered, or the fate of characters undetermined, allowing readers to speculate about what happens next for themselves.
Sometimes, open endings can produce the same effect that cliffhangers do, the major difference being what’s been answered and revealed throughout the story already. Instead of readers being encouraged to read a second or third installment, open endings encourage readers to revisit the book itself to look for clues to help them piece together what they think happens next; or, with more shocking open endings, to find where the answers were laid all along. Authors like Gillian Flynn, Colson Whitehead, Victor LaValle, Liane Moriarty, and Percival Everett have all incorporated open endings into their stories to diverse and dramatic effects.
Think of movies like Inception or The Graduate for examples of open endings that have left audiences wondering for decades. Was Cobb still in the dream of was he awake at the end of Inception? Are Ben and Elaine happy at the end of The Graduate? Do you need to know for certain to be satisfied? Open endings often help the characters leap off the page and into our own imaginations, making them feel more real, more authentic.
A cliffhanger exclusively for the shock can alienate readers, and an open ending without enough context for conversation can make a story simply feel incomplete. So, which is going to be right for your story, and how to pull it off?
For a cliffhanger, decide if you see this story as part of a larger series, and if you can imagine your characters’ being able to pull their weight beyond one book. But if you’re looking to incorporate cliffhangers into a standalone story, my advice is the same as it is for open endings: Start at the end.
For an open ending, if you know how you want to “end” your story, it’ll be easier for you to lay the breadcrumbs throughout for readers to flip back to as they think about what they just read. Similarly, knowing the ending from the start can help you incorporate cliffhangers and where to put them within a standalone story.
Listen, ending our stories is hard. In fact, no part of writing is easy in my opinion, there are just certain aspects of it we enjoy more than others. So, remember, too, that you will get there in the end, no matter what. Write for the sake of writing first. Get on the page whatever’s in your heart, make every single mistake there is to make, and worry about fixing them in future drafts. You can’t fix what’s not there to begin with.
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