Endings That Make Readers Tap the Next Episode: How to Write Cliffhangers

Why endings matter

On a serial platform, the point where a reader decides whether to tap the next episode after finishing one is mostly the last scene. If the ending is loose, readers may think "that's enough, I've read this far" and leave. If curiosity remains at the end, they go looking for the next episode right away.

A cliffhanger means cutting the story at a tense moment as if hanging off a cliff, but the endings actually used in serials are far more varied. This article sorts out several approaches.

Five types of endings

Choose the type that suits the work's mood and that episode's content. Forcing a crisis-type ending on an everyday episode only feels awkward.

• Crisis: cut off at a moment when a character is in danger (the door opens and someone is standing there)
• Twist: reveal information at the end that overturns what the reader believed
• Question: pose an unresolved mystery ("Why was there no name on that letter?")
• Choice: cut off at the moment a character is about to make an important decision
• Lingering note: end on a moment when feeling deepens or a meaningful line, without a big event

The order for designing the last scene

1. Decide what happens in the next episode first. An ending is a promise of the next episode.
2. From that, pick the one piece of information or situation readers will be most curious about and put it in the last scene.
3. In the lead-up to the last scene, raise the tension bit by bit (cut sentences short or compress time).
4. Write the last sentence short and clear. End on an event or a question without adding explanation.

Problems with overuse

If you end every episode on a shocking event, readers quickly notice the pattern and tire of it. And if you resolve the curiosity in a trivial way in the next episode, trust breaks. The question you posed at the end must be properly handled in the next episode.

• Beware of trick endings: if you build a crisis and then resolve it in the next episode with "it was all a dream," readers feel cheated
• Avoid repeating the same type: don't end three episodes in a row the same way
• Small knots are needed: after a big event, give one episode to sort out emotions to create breathing room

Endings for everyday and quiet episodes

Not every episode can be tense. Even in scenes where relationships deepen or in a resting stretch of the story, you can hold readers. In those cases, put something like this at the end: the moment a character hears the other person and changes, a line hinting at a secret not yet told, or a small unease about what's coming.

Checking endings during revision

1. Read only the last three sentences on their own and judge for yourself whether you want to know what comes next.
2. Write the last sentences of the past five episodes side by side and check whether a type is repeating.
3. Check whether the last scene connects to the core event of that episode. An event unrelated to the episode that suddenly pops up feels awkward.
4. Note in which episodes readers' comments said "I want to know what's next," and use the pattern as a reference.