The structure of a good multibook cliffhanger

 All multi-book stories are part of an arc called a story arc. Imagine two people walking to the end of the block? bad cliffhangers are sort of like if you just stopped--sometimes as you're about to walk into traffic, sometimes not. A good cliffhanger has something you really want to know (like is that guy going to die because there's a car coming?) a bad cliffhanger just ends the story because the writer wants to break the a longer story into parts or didn't set up a Lady or the Tiger kind of situation. In other words--the hero just stopped and there's no car in sight. 

Most stories have natural stopping points that work with your story arc where something happens or doesn't happen.

 Like maybe the hero isn't invested vs the hero "is" invested.

Think of Han in the first Star Wars. Remember where he leaves and everyone thinks he's ducking out because he doesn't care about anything but money, then he comes roaring back to give Luke a chance to destroy the Death Star? That's because he's got to the road and he needs to look both ways, right? It's a natural stopping point or cliffhanger, because in Han's character arc he needs to realize that he cares about the people who've become his friends, and sometimes you have to stand and fight. That's why a cliffhanger works or doesn't work. If Han went off to do the Han Solo adventures and Star Wars went on with Luke crashing on the surface of the Death Star and Leia fighting on, then it's not a good cliff hanger no matter where the story breaks off because Han stays static.

Invested or not invested being just another way of saying he's reached the transformational point of his character arc and needs to make a choice. The whole story  has set up his change--so will he or won't he? And the next story shows what happens depending on his choice.

The Rebellion fails because Luke didn't destroy the Death Star and everyone is blown up leading to a story where a single survivor starts the fight again on a distant planet? Or Luke destroys the Death Star and everyone argues about whether Leia knew she was kissing her brother?

 A good cliffhanger needs to make sense for the story arc. It needs to give the reader a sense that the story could go in at least two directions because it's reached the climax of whatever arc you've decided to use.

(e.g. The story arc

The cliffhanger happens  when they attack the Death Star. Will they or won't they win?

The character arc

(Han's) the cliffhanger happens when he gets in the Falcon and leaves the Rebel Base with the money. Will he or won't he fight?

That being said, this doesn't mean the end of the arc is the end of the story. The thing about cliffhangers is that it implies there's another arc.

There's going to be an Empire Strikes back, or a Single soldier escapes to start a new rebellion, or Han falls in love with Leia.

What rising action really means in story structure

  I got sick last year. Apparently too much stress, high blood pressure and a type A personality can do that to you--who knew? Looking back, I'm grateful. I had so many irons in the fire, it's a wonder I didn't clank. Many months slater, I've scaled back, feel better and rediscovered I like reading, a wow experience I never expected to find again. Books?? Yes, please. I love reading. One thing I've noticed--being how my usual pathway to a series is the free book listings on Bookdoggy and Dango, is the sheer number of people who don't  understand structure.

 People say it's all sorts of things--checklists, templates, required bits and pieces, etc, but it's really just a form of musical notation for writing. I mean, think about it? All structure is drawn as diagrams, even if it's nothing more than a couple of lines. It goes up, it goes down, it swoops or dips or whatever. 

Structure is simply a notation that tells you what story events are supposed to be doing at that point in the story. It's not telling you to go into a cave or bring out the mentor, or even howl at the moon. It's simply telling you that at this point in the story, story events on a meta level are supposed to be building or waning in intensity, and I think that's where it goes haywire.

Take a step back and think about the scenes in your story. If you have a sequence of events where the protag finds out the killer is really her boyfriend ( who is standing right behind her)  jumps out the window, runs down the street, and tries to find help then suddenly connects the dots between her boyfriend and the killer in her head, or walks instead of runs, then the structure of your events is off. A line pointed up means rising action or a build in intensity, it doesn't mean stop to rehash events (which is just explaining subtext anyway), or taking a second to catch your breath. Most story events are casual, which means they have a cause and effect sort of linkage.

e.g.

The woman realizes her boyfriend is a killer. 

He's behind her. Eeek! 

Time to run.

She jumps out the window and runs down the street.

Not

The woman realizes her boyfriend is a killer. 

He's behind her. Eeek! 

Time to run.

Oh yeah, it was that important clue that proved his guilt beyond a shadow of a doubt. If not for that clue...etc.

Jumps out the window and runs down the street.

One is a nice straight line that builds in intensity, the other sort of sort of stalls out before picking up again.

It doesn't matter what the event is. If the event that comes after isn't of a higher intensity than what came before, the action is not rising. It's a drop in intensity which means it's going to affect your tension  and throw off the pace.

Does this mean you can't have any breathers or parts where you tell the reader it was really Colonel Mustard in the library with the candlestick because everything needs to keep rising until it drops again?

No.

It's just that in a sequence of rising events, you can't stop or go backwards unless that's the effect you're trying to get across. But you can group events of a similar intensity, so having her realize her boyfriend is the killer by connecting the dots, which rolls her realization and the method she used to figure it out into one, works really well because it's the same intensity and in essence the same event.

That's structure and how to use structure. 

And yeah, I tend to talk a lot, so a quick summary?

Structure is story notation on a meta level. Lines that point up (even if it's part of a curve or something) mean events intensify until it gets to the climax. or where it starts to drop again.  Lines that go down mean events "de" intensify. 

e.g.

Big shoot out and confrontation. The hero shoots the guy at the climax. (intense)

The guy falls over dead. (less intense 'cause he's no longer a threat)

Everyone goes out to dinner. (even less intense)

If you stall or sidetrack see if it can be rolled into the event before it. 

e.g. If you really want to tell the reader how the heroine reached her realization it's better before the actual realization

That book! That was her book. The only way he could have found it was on the body of the last victim. He is the killer! Eek! Jump out the window.

Not so good.

He is the killer! Eek! Jump out the window. That book! That was her book. The only way he could have found it was on the body of the last victim. 

Free Collection of Useful Writing tools and Update on Patreon

I've been on Patreon for three full months now, and I'm seriously grateful to the people who've chosen to join me. I'd been kicking around the idea for awhile, getting some raised eyebrows, wondering if it wasn't just some kind of weird hubris. However, I'm not lying when I say I'm drowning in information. I used to write powerpoints like people would jot down notes, and I have years of workshops to sort through.

Sometimes I surprise myself (I wrote that??), sometimes I find a groaner (whoa. I wrote that) and sometimes I find things where I was way off because as Chatman (still my hero after all these years) said, "craft is synthesis." Okay, he really didn't say that. I'm actually paraphrasing because I think he was talking about rhetoric. But in my mind, it just means that learning craft is a journey, and we're always adding to our body of knowledge, evaluating and discarding what doesn't work, and tweaking what does.

I know a little more than I did way back in the beginning, simply because I've had the opportunity to work on literally hundreds of manuscripts. So I've had the pleasure of turning theory into practice multiple times. It made me discard what doesn't work, and refine what does. Back in the day, you'd never hear me talking about the literal beginning and end of the story in the way I do today, or being so laid back about telling (showing works, but honestly--so does telling. It all depends).

I did a series recently. The posts weren't a series when I wrote them, they were actually the powerpoints from three different workshops. But if you're interested in how to tighten and deepen your character-driven story, you're welcome to check out these links (and while you're at it, the rest of the public posts I did for my page).

1. A Quick, No-Nonsense Guide to Action and Emotional Through-lines
2. How to Use Time and Action Through-lines for the Strongest Impact
3. How to Work with Theme on Paper 

They're easier to understand in order, and they have lots of pictures, something I've grown to like over the years. Not saying a thousand words aren't better than one picture, but I don't have as much time as I used to have, and this works for me.

Takeaways from Patreon:

• I really like the email question thing. That works for me. I enjoy questions and it keeps me sharp.
• People need help with outlines, and I've discovered I like working with them. It's a big picture snapshot and fixes everything from conflict and motivation, to pace and plot problems. Maybe I'm growing into a plotter (nah. Just joking.)
• Patreon is really not the most intuitive place. It seems simple on the patron side, but the back end is like using a Mac when you've always had Windows XP. It works, but it's awkward and sometimes I'm scratching my head going...uh, where? Probably why I do the bulk of my work via email. Just sayin' but I think gmail is going to be around for the next few decades and I'm glad I got my name while it was in beta.
• The highest tier I have is a come and go place, where people drop in, get work done, drop out. Not a surprise really since I set it up that way. The other tiers (#2 questions/ #3 chapters) seem to have the most stability.
• Never really thought about the whole payment thing. I just figured if I was providing services it was better to charge upfront. Turns out if people move upwards to a higher tier, they get charged twice since I charge upfront (totally not cool). The workaround is to sign up, cancel. You still get the month of benefits, and sign up at a higher tier the next month for different benefits. I'm sure there are random variations, but that's what I have so far. Mayra was kind enough to figure that out for me, and I'm thrilled there's a workaround.

You're welcome to check out my tiers too (although you don't have to. It's just in case you might be thinking about some "tech" support for a later project).

On the big plus side, my wild indigo is growing (and if that's not a random shift, I don't know what is)!! I planted it last winter and it's all coming up. I'm so thrilled. I've been trying to grow wildflowers and not doing all that well. I figured if I could just get something growing I could move it around once it's established. Maybe use it to support my irises or something. Wish me luck, because this is the year of the garden. And maybe cleaning up some of my once planned English garden (and current "wild" garden).

Do You Really Need Developmental Edits?

Short answer>> no.

Long answer--I spend a lot of time researching stuff, mostly things like the structure of crinolines, and when tomatoes were brought back to Europe, but in the course of my wandering I've been noticing the way authors are dividing into camps. One camp is firmly on the side of "I don't need no stinkin' edits" and the other is on the side of "...I love my editor."

There are pros and cons to each side, but over the course of many years I have some observances I just want to throw out there.

1. A good story sells. It doesn't matter how big the plot holes are or if the character bounces around like a sweet, sexy, smart and incredibly stupid basketball, it will still sell, and sell plenty.

2. It is a sad but true fact that if you want to sell a lot of books you need to meet your readers expectations. You can do that without me, but you can't do it if you want to win the hearts and minds of "sweet" romance readers and hit them over the head with rampant sexy times then kill the hero.

3. It totally, absolutely, never ceases to amaze the living bejeebers out of me how set some writers are on their characters and universe being a certain way. I once read this post on covers, and in it some people were talking about how to get their artists to change things to reflect their book, and some guy comes along and says, "I don't care. A good cover is a good cover. If the hero has red hair, I simply add red hair to my hero and it's a done deal."

If your writing is set in stone, you honestly don't need an editor. I am available for a small fee to tell you how fabulous you are in words you'll enjoy reading over and over again. Just email me with the subject line "Jodi, tell me you love me!" and I'll do just that on receipt of twenty-five dollars cash money and a synopsis. I might even add a few hearts and a heartfelt "thank you for letting me read your book."

4. Many stories have bad early reviews because the writers are waiting for someone to tell them what they did wrong. It doesn't seem to bother them because it gets buried by later, better reviews, and if you can deal with it, then it seems like a good way to crowdsource your troubleshooting.

5. I get a lot of good, solid stories that could easily sell without edits. I like to think they're better after I work on them, but I also think the people who send them to me are the kind of people who'd polish the underside of their dining table, and that's a good thing, because the world needs more beeswax-on-wood action. It just smells good.

You know how when you choose a path?

So anyway, there I was (I always start out with this in real life, not sure why), way back when--thinking, man all this retraining stuff just isn't working out, I wonder what I can do to make money and support us? And I sat down, staring at the wall. This was way back when, back in the early days of ereaders and stuff. I'd just gotten a job with a small press, but the money wasn't rolling in. I knew I'd have to go back to work (because one of those huge, ultra-changing life events had happened), but I wanted a potential way out that wouldn't suck the soul out of me.

Then Sharon came along. She was looking for someone to present an online RWA workshop (that turned out to be the first workshop I ever did (Running in the Dark for the Black Diamond chapter), and she said--everybody talked to you! She was amazed. Until that point, I didn't know most people lurk. I mean, I talked like crazy (and still do), and when she moved on to help form savvy, I went with her. Between workshops and edits, life has gotten a lot better. I offered my opinion for years before hanging out a shingle, and I still do--I'd probably do it for free if I didn't have a mortgage (a house paid for with edit money! In the Seattle area! The mind boggles) and limited time.

Recently (okay, a couple of years ago) I was fortunate enough to meet Dianna Love, and she's just as nice as she seemed when I first saw her at RWA '09 presenting a workshop with Mary Buckham. She's been fabulous, letting me work with her over at All Writer's.

We've been doing this blurb workshop that keeps selling out and I've been thinking of more quick 1 day workshops that will focus on little bits of workable craft. I dunno, I've been thinking there's got to be a way to distill dev edits into a day--maybe a check list with actionable bits? But anyway. It's been good. And the more work I do, the better life gets. It's crowded, and busy, and sometimes it's freaking insane. But I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'm doing what I like, working with stories, talking to people who like stories, living the dream. And I suspect--if my paths diverged in a yellow wood, just like Frost said, it'd have all circled back.

Excerpt from a workshop #4 (emotional through-lines)

Also remember—and this is one of the most important takeaways from this workshop. Say what you mean, unless you are showing emotions the character doesn’t know they have, or are controlling for some reason or another.

Looking at this paragraph, you used the word and phrase “furious” and “really angry”. From a glance at the rest of the chapter, Jane is “really angry”, she isn’t furious. Furious implies a totally different set of actions and reactions. "Really angry" implies the stuff you already have in place. It’s like a scale. Unless the progression of emotion is still continuing (you know, like she’s moving from angry to furious), then just name it and move on, so you can work on other stuff. The emotional through-line, where she is really angry, will keep going until you do something to derail it. 

Story Lines In Plain English

So there I was (and as my daughter says, I start all stories with this phrase), wondering how to explain why it was so important to connect the end of the story to the beginning. Which pretty much means I've dropped into the middle of "this" story without even pausing to explain where I came from. If you've talked to me over the last few years, you know I've been on a "the end and beginning need to sync" kick. Kicking it around, kicking it around, thinking about it.

It's not that the info isn't usable. I think it's more like it's not relate-able. I mean, everyone knows their story works. They write and it ends up where they wanted to go, more or less, and listening to me say a storyline is a force, and should be straight sort of blurs.

A storyline, or at least how I use it, is the story's narrative or all the stuff in it, the plot or sequence of events, the characters, the motivations, the setting, the...everything. I think of it as "stuff" or the story as an integrated unit. Storyline = all the stuff, moving toward the end where something happens. In a romance (because it's the easiest example), it's the happily ever after.

So, storyline = all the stuff moving toward the end of the story where the hero and heroine get together now and forever, or just for now.

Now, strip that down to the word "line", and change line into "plain". We are now on a plain, sort of like the Midwest or something. Chicago is on the plain. NY, Seattle, LA, Alaska. They're all on the plain. Along with people and cars, and houses and supermarkets. It's all a world, contained by a plain, where everyone walks around and does stuff (like in a book :) ).

Imagine we're going to Happily-Ever-After, which is in NY. However, we're still in Seattle, so we're going on a road-trip.  The heroine packs her car, and hits the road. It is 2,854 miles to NY, and somewhere on the road between Seattle and NY the hero is standing on the side of the road, leaning against his sexy black motorcycle, stripped down to a pair of jeans, muscles and tattoos. However, we're going to detour to Hawaii for a tan because we can't go to NY without looking bronzed and gorgeous for the hero.

However, one thing leads to another, the trip takes a long time, the hotel has fleas, and there are all these hot young lifeguards. Before you know it, Sea-tac Park and Fly is calling about your car because it's about to get towed. So, you get back on the plane, fly back to your car and start for NY.

Or, maybe you feel the call of the wild, and head to Alaska. Up the coast, bumping along the Alaska Highway, stopping here and there to look at elk or take in a glacier. You've got friends and your sister in the back seat, a couple of playlists, and long snug nights in cute cabins in the great outdoors. What hero? There's plenty of time to squeeze him in somewhere.

Now imagine Hawaii is the home of backstory. The heroine grew up there, loves the food, has relatives there, and can't let go. It might very well be that her memory hotel turns out to have fleas, but that's the point of a visit, to remember the fleas and have something to eat. A reader can't understand the story without seeing what shaped the heroine before it starts, right? And Alaska is full of friends, family, fun times, and sets up perfectly for a series.

However, Hawaii and Alaska are not on the way to NY, and unless the heroine is on the way to NY, she isn't going to meet the hero and start their journey together. This doesn't mean she can't stop in at a Hawaiian deli and get some takeout, or cruise through a park with the hero, another couple, and a cute puppy. While a storyline is a line, it doesn't mean stuff can't happen. It just means stuff needs to be on a straight line. It needs to be integrated. It needs to be takeout, or a fun day with the hero (and others) at a park. Why does it need to be Denali? Denali is in Alaska. Why not Cuyahoga Valley? Cuyahoga Valley is on the way to NY.

Lines are not just a line. They are a plain. A plain contains all kinds of things, including a road, and sometimes that road includes (minor) detours which quickly get you back on track again. Which leads back to the "end and beginning need to sync."

If you are road-tripping from Seattle to New York, and find yourself starting in Hawaii or Alaska, maybe the story needs to start earlier, or it's not really about the heroine, but someone else.