5 Ways to End a Book Chapter in a Way That Readers Want to Know What Happens Next

Authors are called magicians because they can spin yarns of stories and characters, scenes and histories with the power of their imagination. However, a novel is a huge task to accomplish, as it is lengthy, complex and tedious. Keeping readers hooked to the book every moment is not an easy job. When a chapter comes to an end, it is the point where the reader tends to put down your book and take a break. But you do not want that; if the reader leaves your book, your fiction has lost its magic. To promote your book, you need them to be glued to your book till they finish and that defines the writing technique of an author; the capability of a writer is proved by how long you can hold your audience, like it happens for cinema.

There are some unique ways in which you can end each chapter of your book, so that readers keep turning the pages to find out what happens next. Usually, a chapter ending should focus on something unresolved, a lingering question, the answer to which the reader will push himself/herself to know.

Here are 5 ways in which you can write a chapter ending:-

1. Use an appropriate cliffhanger: A cliffhanger is a moment of suspense which is introduced at the ending of an episode or chapter; the audience is given the hint of something arriving but it is unclear what will happen in that situation. For e.g. when ending lines are as follows- “After fidgeting with the key for quite some time, Drew was able to turn it clockwise and there was a ‘tick’. A foul breeze reached her nose immediately, with some eerie buzzing sound from inside the room…” When a chapter ends at this point, there is a cliffhanger which tells the readers that a person named Drew has finally succeeded in opening the door to a secret room, after trying for quite some time, but what is inside isn’t revealed. A hint of what the room is like, is given, so that the readers storm their brains to figure out themselves and take bets and challenges with their friends on what are the possible things that can be found inside the dark room; why the ‘foul smell’ etc. and eventually not being able to conclude, turns the page to the next chapter to find out what Drew gets in the room. A cliffhanger is a tricky thing to promote your book. It should not appear usual and manipulating, as if the author is intentionally trying to make the reader go on to the next chapter. It should be subtle, a graceful cliffhanger which will build a sense of tension, which will automatically make the reader turn to the next chapter without understanding the intention of the author.
2. Create an arrival: Make the chapter end such that a new beginning is created, which is indeed a paradoxical idea. Do not try to summarize everything you have written throughout the chapter and make it the end of a situation or scene, while beginning a fresh start on a new chapter. No, that is pretty old school composition concept. Better to start off a new scene or situation at the end of your previous chapter and continue the same scene in your next chapter, so that when readers start reading about the scene towards the end of the chapter, they will automatically switch to the next chapter to understand what develops on in the same situation between the characters. Like, “The heavy drops splashed on the window pains with clattering noise and in the lightening flash, Eliza could partially see a tall well-built man in rugged jacket, standing at the door step. He looked affluent, but his hair was slightly out of place due to getting wet from the rain. His boots were expensive (as was visible from the leather) but at the moment, looked like that of a farmer with all the mud and grass on them. ‘Can I please have a cup of coffee from the lady?’ he pleaded with earnestness and this was the known voice from High school. Eliza knew the person for whom she and family were waiting, has arrived.” Here the ending of the chapter marks the beginning of a new scene where a new character enters the canvas of the plot. So the reader is intrigued to know what conversation follows between Eliza and the man, what happens between him and the family, how similar is the character to what Eliza knew from school or how different is he from the reader’s assumption.
3. Change the time or era: You can end your chapter with a hint to a different time frame, like your next chapter is going to be in flashback. This strategy seems to work with readers, because they are always interested to know what will happen, or rather, what may have happened in the past. This is especially intriguing because readers feel they will get to know a backstory which will help them understand the characters better. In Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel of self-discovery, chapters end with a clue to a different period in time. For example, after Grandfather brushed his teeth and went to bed and the dog went to sleep, Alex lies awake listening to the sound of Grandfather’s breathing, knowing that both of them were awake and thinking of the same question: what Grandfather had done in the war. The flashback mode of storytelling can be a very good selling point to promote your book. Something different, unique about a narrative technique is always welcomed.
4. Use a surprise element or revelation: Some kind of a revelation or surprise element about a character or storyline, at the end of a chapter starts the reader. He is taken aback to know that what he was thinking all this while about a certain element, is totally different from his expectation. Like a character whom you have been thinking a slumdog all this while (of course from his clothes, features and vanity descriptions) is declared to be an upscale New York businessman running multinational companies at the end of the chapter, you will surely want to read on, to know about how did that happen?, or then why is he like this?
5. Create a mystery: The attraction towards the unknown is a general tendency in mankind. You can use this element to build the chapter ending. Create a situation where something dreaded in happening and the main characters doesn’t know how they will survive it or what will happen next. Situations like, “I locked myself inside the room where all the recoveries were stored. I pushed the huge iron trunks filled with their gold, to block them. Gun fires were piercing the door constantly to reach me. Another crowd of hundreds, used their heavy spades, hammers and axes to break the cement window from the other side. My allies had left because I told them to run for their lives. The whole village, in thousands had ganged up to kill me. I fell to the floor, took out my wallet and gazed at Celina’s photograph with tired eyes, while they kept banging. It can be any moment now that the raging mob will reach me, but I am still waiting for some miracle, for some help to arrive on time, from the authorities….” are usually extremely gripping when the story is moving towards its climax. When the chapter ends on such a note, it goes without saying that the reader will not be able to put down the book, until he knows that help has arrived and the hero is safe, or at least for some kind of a resolution.

There are several ways in which you can promote your book, and good chapter endings is one of them. Again, there are many other ways in which you can give a gripping end to your chapters so that readers will ask for more. There isn’t one strategy which is proven right for all; every author has their own method to create magic in their books. Which is yours?

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