End chapters by not ending them

Okay this post has a stupid title, granted. But trust me, I’ve got a point I’m trying to make!

Many people talk about the benefit of chapter-payoffs, and I think that’s right. You want people to WANT to keep reading, even as they come to the end of a chapter.

So how do we get to that?

I think this tip might be harder for people who write in scenes and rearrange them around into whatever chapter and order they need, later.

But if you’re like me, and you write in chapters, you probably are more relaxed about breaking scenes up.

The reason why I named this post “end chapters by not ending them”, is because that’s really the big secret. There might be an “oh my god” climax partway through a scene, that then gets resolved. Why include all of that in the chapter? End the chapter on the “oh my god”, then come back to the scene’s resolve in the next chapter.

Why break it up? Well if you don’t finish the scene, and leave them hanging, they will just HAVE to keep going.

If they need to stop, and they put your book down begrudgingly, your work is done! They’ll be picking it up again very soon.

So end chapters, by not ending the scene.