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Q&A Is it okay to end a novel with a cliffhanger?

Write it the way you feel it should be written. However, I would then finish the entire trilogy before finding an agent and shopping it to publishers or publishing it yourself. That way you can ei...

posted 10y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T12:00:23Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/12373
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T03:37:12Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/12373
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T03:37:12Z (almost 5 years ago)
Write it the way you feel it should be written.

However, I would then finish the entire trilogy before finding an agent and shopping it to publishers or publishing it yourself. That way you can either promise your self-pub readers that the next two books are coming, or let your agent pitch that it's a finished trilogy. (I can't see a publisher taking on something so obviously ending in a cliffhanger if the other two books aren't completed.)

I remember at least one book in David Eddings's Belgariad series ending on an absolute cliffhanger, so it's not like it can't ever be done. But the Belgariad was sold as a trilogy and re-broken into five books, so the publisher bought the entire series at a shot.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2014-07-12T11:29:44Z (over 10 years ago)
Original score: 11