Unlock the Secrets of Cliffhangers: How Writers Keep You on the Edge of Your Seat

That’s the opening of a scene. Now let’s move to the first half of the cliffhanger, the scene ending.

5 Basic Scene-Ending Cliffhangers

We’ll examine five basic areas for scene-ending cliffhangers, each with countless sub-categories limited only by your imagination. We’ll touch on a few of them you can use to spark ideas for cliffhangers in your own stories.

These cliffhangers are:

1. Physical
2. Character
3. Emotional
4. Plot
5. Thematic

Learn more about the five basic cliffhangers below, and study them deeply with examples of cliffhangers from bestselling authors.

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