The Steve Laube Agency

You’ve probably heard this advice: End every chapter with a cliffhanger.

And I agree with that to a point, but cliffhangers have different tones. If every chapter ends with someone screaming, a gun going off, or a car exploding, readers may eventually say, “Enough!”

But every scene should end with a reason to keep reading.

A strong scene ending creates a question, a problem, an emotional shift, or a new piece of information that makes the reader think, Okay. One more page.

Here are a few ways to do that.

1. End With a New Problem

What this means is that your character spends the entire scene trying to solve something. And then she does! Fabulous, right? She solved it. But … at what cost? Because everything has to cost something:

Maybe she finally gets the information she needs—but now the person who gave it to her is in danger. Maybe she escapes the building—but realizes someone followed her home. Maybe she gets the job—but discovers who her new boss is. (Yikes! I actually love this for a scene ending.)

The original problem may be over, but the story just got more complicated. And the reader is going to turn the page.

2. End With a Question

Not necessarily a literal question in dialogue, although that can work sometimes. But I mean, give the reader something they need answered:

Why did he lie? Who moved the picture? Why does the victim have the heroine’s phone number in his pocket? What did the child see?

The key is that the question should matter to the story. Readers turn pages because they want answers to the questions created.

3. End With a Decision

Decisions create forward motion for the characters and, thus, the story.

Your character has spent the entire scene resisting something either external (like another person) or internal (like making a decision, weighing the costs of the decision, etc.).

Then, at the end, the decision is made:

She’s going. He’s telling the truth. She’s breaking into the warehouse to get the evidence no one else seems to be able to find. He’s finally calling his sister.

You get the idea. A decision points the reader toward what happens next. And if the decision is risky enough, we want to see how badly it goes. Because, of course, it probably will.

4. End With a Reversal

The character thinks one thing is true, then discovers it isn’t. The police have the killer—except the heroine gets a text from him. The missing child has been found—except it’s the wrong child. The hero believes the threat is over, then recognizes the man standing across the street.

A reversal works because it changes the reader’s understanding of what just happened.

5. End on Emotion

Not every scene needs danger. Sometimes the strongest ending is quiet:

A character realizes she no longer trusts the person beside her. A father understands his son is afraid of him. A woman hears the apology she has waited ten years to hear—and realizes it changes nothing.

That emotional shift can pull a reader into the next scene just as effectively as a gunshot. Maybe more effectively. The goal isn’t to manufacture a cliffhanger. It’s to create unfinished business.

Something’s changed. Something’s coming. And something definitely still needs to be answered.

When you reach the end of a scene, ask yourself: What makes the reader need the next one?

If the answer is “nothing,” it’s time to evaluate and perhaps find a new ending.

 

 

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