I’m planning out and writing the dialogue for my upcoming story, which will be an”Unexpected” contest entry (if I can write and code quick enough).
Episode one ends on a note that I know will want to keep readers engaged and reading more. But at the end of Episode two, I feel like it’s just meh- well written, but not an overly interesting hook to read on to episode three.
I know what my story is about, but I’m not sure how to end the episode in a way that will encourage readers to want to know more. Any tips? I can provide more details if needed.
Now I have no clue what your plot is about but here are some stuff I came up with:
A suspenseful scene like:
Someone the MC least expects to meet, shows up at their door.
A character gets an important phone call, of course here it might require to be vague but still give the reader something exciting and mysterious.
Maybe end it with shocking the reader and making them think that one of the characters might betray the other.
Someone in the story close to the MC does something unexpected.
A love triangle forms.
Maybe write the ending in a way that makes the reader think it’s going one way, but in the next episode you reveal that it really isn’t. Like the example above with the character betraying each other, let reader believe they are going to betray eachother, but they don’t and you only reveal that in the next episode, and on a side-note maybe you can post-pone the betrayal for later or discard it.
Maybe if you add something unexpected then you could display it as a dream in the next episode, if you don’t want it to actually really effect the plot but only make readers continue reading.
I’m not sure if these are any help but maybe they could help with thinking of ones that fit your plot.
If I come up with more, I’ll add them.
Without making anything story-specific (or even genre-specific), these are my favourite types of cliffhangers that I use pretty often.
The MC figures something out, but the audience doesn’t know what it is.
The audience figures something out, but the MC doesn’t know what it is.
A secondary (or even tertiary) character is shown doing something that foreshadows a coming event, or hints at something suspicious.
Alternatively, there’s nothing wrong with ending a chapter with a fun scene! Even if it gets tied-up at the end, it will likely make the reader want to keep reading.
Moved to Share Feedback since this is about story ideas. Make sure to check out our Forum Tutorial for more info about creating topics, and feel free to PM me if you’ve got questions.
