The "Oh No!" Chapter Ending

"Oh no!" is exactly where you want to end your chapter. 

You want readers to feel nervous, agitated, and completely mental about finding out how the character is going to handle the bombshell you just dropped.

Don't drag it on and try to wrap things up. It's not a speech, where you need to tell everyone what you just told them. It's not the end of the book, where you have to make sure all the loose ends are tied up tightly in a pretty bow.

From their experience with previous chapters, the reader can be pretty certain your resourceful character will handle this new complication. The fun part, what you want them salivating to find out, is HOW they deal with this new calamity.

You don't want readers to finish the chapter smiling and saying, "Oh, that was nice" while they skip off to make a cup of tea. You want them wild-eyed, chewing on their fingernails, their stomach churning with worry--because the reader knows what this new state of affairs means to your character.

The reader is a sort of emotional co-pilot.  If they care about your character, they want to be right by their side the entire way, yelling encouragement like a birthing coach. The reader should be mentally pacing like the old-school dads outside the delivery room, trying to appear calm while agonizing over how to deal with this life-changing event.

So take a look at your current chapter endings. Is there a question left in the reader's mind? Is it compelling? Or is it more like a commercial, an excuse to put things on pause so they can go to the kitchen and rustle up a snack?

If that's the case, then go back up a couple paragraphs. Is this where you should have ended things? Don't worry. The paragraphs after that won't go to waste. They can start the new chapter, because the story flow is already there. It just needs to be broken up to heighten the tension and suspense, effectively increasing the "Oh no!" factor.

Your chapter endings shouldn't be a rest stop for a weary traveler. Instead, they should be like a shot of adrenaline, spurring the reader on until the next one, and the next one. . .all the way to the very end, until the reader closes the book and says, "Oh no! I want more!"

Comments

[Quantum]

I'm keeping this one for future reference!

When I read your next book I will be examining the chapter endings to see whether my co-pilot has dumped me in the drink or fired my ejector seat. Either way I will expect to be trembling with anticipation. LOL

Does this approach apply to love scenes? Do you leave them writhing near the edge, not allowing fulfilment until the next chapter, or do they hear the door bell after ecstasy has been achieved?

Either way I reckon you'll make a hell of a partner for some lucky guy!

Donna, joking aside I do agree wholeheartedly. This is definitely the way to write a page turner. *smile*

[Donna Cummings]

Oh no! I didn't think about my books being read while my advice is used for comparison. LOL Maybe I better eject now!

Of course, I end up writing these posts because of something I'm working on, so I guess I'm advising myself more than anybody. :) And I do have a story where the poor hero and heroine have to suffer through some interruptions. . . But they have some great chapter endings to make up for it. LOL

[Melissa]

I see "Oh, no!" from your post and then there's Quantum's comment and I can't help but be reminded of the old tv series, Quantum Leap, where Sam always ended the opening scene with "Oh, boy." Remember that? He'd say it right after he realized the situation he was in -- or rather, the body he'd time traveled into! Then cut to commercial.

I would bet most of my ideas for a story orgininate from an oh, no!/oh, boy moment. Then there are a lot of other oh, no! moments that are probably the framework of the story.

I notice though that while I'm pretty good at getting my characters into trouble, I often have no idea what comes next. LOL At least in the rough draft, I don't often have the story flow continue from oh, no! into the next chapter. I leave my characters hanging in all sorts of situations. Sometimes this delay of gratification adds suspense (later I'd say I planned it that way) and other times it's a bit obvious that I'm stalling. I don't really know until I get all, or most, of the pieces ready and pray for magic putting them together.

I love those oh, no! moments even if my revision always has a lot to do with getting the continuity right leading up to and following those oh, no! moments.

[Donna Cummings]

Melissa, that's a great reminder -- I loved that show, and I always loved seeing who he would be each week.

I know exactly what you mean about getting your characters into trouble and not knowing how to get them OUT. LOL I feel bad for my characters sometimes, because I'm leading them into calamity, telling them to trust me, and then all of a sudden I'm thinking, "Wonder which direction we're supposed to go now?"

I think revisions are meant to enhance the "oh no!" moments, or put them in where they weren't there before, and to definitely increase the continuity. By then, I've got a better idea of how it's all supposed to work!