Greetings and salutations! First of all, I want to say thanks to Lee for having me back on the blog. Thanks so much, Lee!On to my topic of the day – cliffhangers.
My latest book, Spider’s Bite, is out this month. It’s the first book in my Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series. And, yes, it ends with a cliffhanger.
Don’t worry. It’s not a major cliffhanger. I don’t have my heroine get surrounded by killer ninjas or thrown into shark-infested waters and suddenly end the book. After all, I’m a reader too. There’s only so much suspense that I can take, and I know lots of other readers feel the same way.
But at the end of Spider’s Bite, the heroine finds out a piece of information that she didn’t know before – something that absolutely stuns her and really rocks her whole world.
So why did I decide to end with a bit of a cliffhanger? Well, mainly because it fit the story. During the course of Spider’s Bite, my heroine goes through a lot of ups and downs. But finally, at the end, she’s in a good place in her life. And just when she thinks that things are finally getting back to normal – BAM! She finds out this information, and it changes everything that she thought she knew.I also decided to close out the book with a cliffhanger because I love twist endings. Two of my favorite twist endings are in the heist movies The Italian Job (with Mark Wahlberg) and The Thomas Crown Affair (with Pierce Brosnan). You think you know what’s going on in those movies, but suddenly, there’s a clever little twist at the end, and you realize that things aren’t quite what they seem.
I also decided to end Spider’s Bite with a cliffhanger because, well, I want to hook people on my books, my story, my characters. I want readers to want to keep reading to find out what happens next. It’s one of the best compliments you can get as an author when someone e-mails you to say how much she’s looking forward to your next book.
But I’m not being too cruel to readers. The next book in the series, Web of Lies, comes out in June, so folks don’t have too long to wait to see how the cliffhanger plays out. And the third book in the series, Venom, will be out in October.
What about you guys? Do you like cliffhangers? Hate them? What are some of your favorite cliffhangers or surprise endings in books and movies? Share in the comments.
Jennifer
http://www.jenniferestep.com/
**Jennifer is giving away another book from her backlist to one lucky reader! Just leave a comment for a chance to win and we'll pick a winner in a few days. Good luck!**
***Jennifer's winner is Laurie! Please email me, Laurie, at totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your full name and mailing address. :) Thanks to everyone who left a comment!***
