Sunday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

CLIFFHANGERS—GOOD IDEA OR NOT?

By: Jennifer Ellis

We all know those books, movies, and TV show seasons that end with a cliffhanger that enrage some fans. Do a search on cliffhangers that people hate and you will come up with a wide range of “cliffhangers” that caused a furor, such as: The Lord of the Rings, The Empire Strikes Back, The Dark Tower by Stephen King (and a lot of other books by Stephen King), Dallas (the Who shot JR? episode), several of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander books, Gone with the Wind, Gone Girl, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Inception, The Hunger Games, and Catching Fire.

“Cliffhanger” endings can cause varying degrees of rage among fans depending on how the person felt the writer handled them.

I call them “cliffhangers” in quotation marks because they are not all strictly cliffhangers and there are variations in the definition of cliffhanger. In reality, there are various types of endings to books, shows and movies, that are on a continuum from an “every single thing is completely resolved ending” to a true cliffhanger. There are no commonly accepted names for the types of endings that occupy the middle of the continuum, and there is a lot of confusion with regard to which is which, with some people calling anything in which everything is not totally resolved a cliffhanger.

Four Types of Unresolved Endings

For the sake of clarity, I have come up with the following four types of unresolved endings:

1) A True Cliffhanger Ending

. . .

Read the full article HERE! 

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If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

1. Author Earnings' winter report -- ISBN On Ice! | The Bookseller http://ow.ly/Igjfo
2. The Writers Alley: A Pantser's Plotting Plan http://ow.ly/IgjF5
3. Benefits of Writing Fiction in a Serialized Form - Curiosity Quills Press http://ow.ly/Igk9t
4. The Undeniable Importance of Paper -- For Writers and for Readers -- Plus a Giveaway and Special Deal http://ow.ly/IgkbQ
5. Writing, The Glamorous Life & Finding Balance in the Madness of Branding | Kristen Lamb's Blog http://ow.ly/Igkna
6. How Do You Stay Organized? | Jami Gold, Paranormal Author http://ow.ly/IgkpZ
7. Fiction University: The Line Forms Where? Knowing Where to Start Your Novel http://ow.ly/Igkt4
8. Cliffhangers - Good Idea or Not? | The Indie Writer's Guide http://ow.ly/Igku9
9. Indie Writers and Proofing a Proof - BookWorks | BookWorks http://ow.ly/IgldJ
10. How to Get More Facebook Fans - Amy Porterfield http://ow.ly/Igmkq
11. Ksenia Anske Books/Blog/CORNERS is now THE BADLINGS!!! Or, fit the title to the book. http://ow.ly/Igmtt
12. Eavesdropping for story ideas and other tips from a veteran novelist http://ow.ly/Igmz8
13. Amazon Marketing Services for KDP Select Titles | Indies Unlimited http://ow.ly/Ign2X
14. Twitter Rolls Out Mobile Video: This Week in Social Media | Social Media Examiner http://ow.ly/IgoAA
15. Tax Tips for Writers Who Hate Math by Helen Sedwick — The Book Designer http://ow.ly/IgoD5
16. The Fussy Newsletter 01.31 -- What readers pay for shorter ebooks http://ow.ly/IgLjK
17. Balancing Conflict in Romance Stories | Jami Gold, Paranormal Author http://ow.ly/IgM56
18. 10 Steps to Express Yourself Better in Writing http://ow.ly/IgMmW
19. How to Write Faster: The Brainwave Blueprint | Write to Done http://ow.ly/IgMzd

Happy writing and running, Kathy