IWSG: Fiction Cliffhangers; Upcoming Stephen King Novel

It's the first Wednesday of the month and so it’s time for another Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) blog hop! In an IWSG post, we writers bring our writing challenges and problems out into the open to share with each other and try to offer solutions. Well, I just can't believe how fast November raced by and now we're into December! Before we know it, it will be Christmas and then New Year’s! Speaking of which, I have some news about an upcoming end-of-year book sale which will include my own books at reduced prices! That news, along with news about Stephen King's upcoming novel, will be in the part of this post that will make up for Monday’s missed one which I apologize for. So, I'm doubling up today for both the IWSG blog hop and for Monday. 

The Cliffhanging Ending in Fiction

The IWSG optional question for December is: Do you write cliffhangers at the end of your stories? Are they a turn-off to you as a writer and/or a reader? Ever since my big ‘60s “Batman” TV series phase from when I was around six, I’ve loved cliffhangers. Batman and his sidekick Robin, always faced a life-threatening situation at the end of part one of a two- or three-episode storyline which they would get themselves out of in the following episode. That show left so much of an impression on me that I became a fan of cliffhangers. That is, in TV and comic books; not in fiction. 

The problem I have with cliffhangers in fiction, especially novels, is that it often takes at least a year or two for the next book to come out that will resolve the cliffhanger. Because of this, the ending makes the book seem too incomplete. That’s why I normally don't write cliffhangers even though most of my fiction is short fiction which, unlike a novel, is easier to write and publish more quickly. However, I normally don’t release my short stories until I’ve compiled them into a collection such as my upcoming one, "Bad Apps", and, because I’m ADHD, I almost never have a fixed preset deadline for when it will be released. So, as to not keep readers waiting indeterminately just to find out how the resolution to a story will turn out, I try to avoid writing cliffhangers.

There is an exception to cliffhanging endings when it comes to my own reading of long fiction, such as novels. That exception is if a book in the series can both stand alone as its own story while yet leaving a subplot in a cliffhanging ending. There are some authors that do this well, but I try not to do it with my own stories if it can be helped. 

Fans Insist on the Supernatural in Stephen King's upcoming Crime Novel

Credit: Pixabay.com

According to an article published at ScreenRant early last week, Stephen King fans criticized King’s 2023 novel, “Holly”, for not containing the supernatural elements that most of his horror fiction has had. “Holly” is more mundane crime/detective fiction than supernatural horror. Because so many readers were disappointed with that, they're now insisting that his upcoming novel, "Never Flinch"--also a crime story and, according to the ScreenRant article, to be released in May 2025--include supernatural elements. The novel's plot concerns a cop tracking down the source of a message that warns of 13 people to be murdered.

"Holly" is not King’s first novel that replaces deadly, supernatural characters with mundane killers. In 1987 he published "Misery" which is about a physically disabled romance writer whose in-home nurse turns out to be a psychotic killer and an infatuated fan of his work.  

I understand the desire and need for writers who typically write in one genre to change to another. Many authors don't want to be boxed into just one genre such as horror. The problem is that publishers, especially here in the US, make it hard for an author to publish in other genres because they depend too much on the sales made from that author’s usual genre. This is especially the case with best-selling writers such as King.  

At the same time, when an author writes and publishes a book in a genre that he/she hasn't built their readership from, it has to be marketed with focus on the audience that reads that type of fiction. However, many writers resolve the problem of publishing outside of their usual genre by writing under a pseudonym, or pen name. In doing that, they won't appear to be neglecting their long-time readers. King wrote novels outside of horror using pen names earlier in his career. Why he doesn’t do the same with his more recent crime fiction, such as “Holly”, is either uncertain or debatable.  

Upcoming End-of-Year Book Sale

I will be offering discounts on my books during the upcoming Smashwords Store End of Year Book Sale. The sale will run from December 12th through January 1st. I have not enrolled the books in the sale yet and so don't have details about the discounts. I'll be enrolling them by the end of the week, so be sure to keep tuning in here and/or at my Facebook page for further details.

What do you think of cliff hangers in fiction? Do you think authors should hold to one genre for the sake of their fans or that they should have the freedom to write in other genres?

Today’s IWSG is brought to you by these super co-hosts:  Ronel, Deniz, Pat Garcia, Olga Godim, and Cathrina Constantine! IWSG was founded by awesome author Alex Cavanaugh, writer of the Cassa Series of novels! 

Until next time . . .