Have you ever read one of those books where you felt as though you were being propelled through the story, unable to stop reading even if your eyes were drooping and the clock was telling you you’d be sorry in the morning?
There are a lot of ways that a writer can achieve this sense of urgency for the reader. Today I’m going to talk about ending your chapters with hooks. I once got a very useful piece of information from Valerie Parv (aka Australian romance royalty). She said:
If you end a chapter with a character going to sleep, chances are the reader will too.
The end of the chapter should compel the reader to keep reading. I liken it to the technique they use on shows like MasterChef. Just as they’re about to lift the lid on the Mystery Box or announce the winner of a challenge, the show cuts to an ad break. If they’d shown you what treasures were concealed inside the ad box and then cut to a break, viewers might be inclined to change the channel.
You can use this technique in your story to keep the reader engaged from one chapter to the next. Here are some do’s and don’ts for chapter endings:
Do
Introduce new information right before the chapter ends that will hook the reader into wanting to find out more.
Throw your character’s lives into chaos so your reader is left wondering what will happen to them.
Pose a problem that your characters need to solve in the next chapter.
Have your characters make a decision that they need to take action on in the next chapter.
End the chapter a little earlier than you think you need to – you don’t have to show the characters putting the dishes in the sink if they’ve just had dinner. Stop the chapter while the action is still fresh.
Don’t
Tie everything up in a neat little bow at the end of a chapter (unless, of course, it’s the last chapter of the book)
Send your characters off to bed…unless they don’t plan on sleeping ;)
Have your characters reflecting on what happened or giving the reader a play-by-play recap. Let the chapter end when the action ends.
Feel like you need to end every single chapter on a big hook, use this technique to vary your chapter endings and add drama – but if you do it too often the reader will catch onto your writerly tricks.
When looking at the do’s you can use one of these types of hooks or combine multiple types. How about an example? Here’s a snippet from A Merry Aussie Christmas. Evie is doing her best to act unaffected, but Jasper sees right through it.
He didn’t miss for a second the way her gaze dropped to his mouth and flicked back up again, her pupils widening ever so slightly. Details. He loved them, loved them especially when it came to her. She rubbed her lips together, the little flecks of shimmer in her gloss catching the light. Her hands clenched and unclenched against the leather couch.
“You don’t look like you want to talk,” he said, reaching out and touching the feather dangling from her ear. It was soft and feminine and brightly wild, just like Evie.
“Don’t I?” Her nostrils flared. She was trying so hard to hang onto her shield, to her wall. “What does it look like I want?”
That was a loaded question. A dangerous question.
He shouldn’t be tempting himself with what he’d never be able to have. But she was the one who’d turned up on his doorstep with those big eyes and that pouty mouth and that tough outer shell that hid all manner of treasures beneath it.
How could he not be tempted?
Screw it. For once in his damn life he deserved to go after what he wanted instead of denying himself with all the reasons it wouldn’t work. Maybe if he’d had the courage to ask Evie out all those years ago his life might have worked out very differently.
“Like you want to kiss me,” he said.
At this point the chapter stops and I’ve done a few things:
1. Left the chapter hanging on the biggest romance question of all “will they or won’t they?” Readers will want a peek at the next chapter to see if they get a kiss or not.
2. Show character development. “For once in his damn life he deserved to go after what he wanted instead of denying himself with all the reasons it wouldn’t work.” This sentence shows how in the past Jasper might have retreated, but now he doesn’t want to because he’s changing as a person.
3. Put the characters in a position where they need to make a decision. This means that the next chapter will open with something active (e.g. Evie has to decide whether or not to rise to Jasper’s challenge), rather than passive. Active chapters where characters need to make a decision are more compelling than scenes where they’re passengers.
Remember, hooks can be added in later. Some may come naturally, but I often write my stories without worrying about chapter endings. If the story is flowing, I don’t like to let my internal editor have too much control at that point. You can definitely go through your manuscript during revisions and look at the end of each chapter to see how you can make it better.