Let’s discuss cliffhangers, shall we?

I successfully riled a bunch of people up with a few statements on facebook. (Insert mood: highly amused here.)

Statement 1: People tell me I have cliffhangers in my books all the time. (Manner of Riling: these people aren’t fans? Author Statement: They can be fans and hold this opinion. Doesn’t mean I AGREE with them, but they can have their opinions on this matter.)

Statement 2: Tongue-in-Cheek “Well if people are going to tell me I leave cliffhangers, maybe I should do an ACTUAL cliffhanger for a change…” (Because seriously, if people tell me I wear these shoes, why not ACTUALLY wear them?)

Cue the end of the internet.

So, the white elephant in the room is as follows: if I want to write a cliffhanger, I absolutely will, because *I* am the one investing 300+ hours of my life to write, edit, and produce the book… if I feel a book needs a cliffhanger ending, I am absolutely going to do so.

Second: I am generally a “happily for now” or “happily ever after” author. This means one thing and one thing only for me: at the end of the book, you know where the main character is, and they are in a decent space. They aren’t necessarily sunshine and rainbows, but you know where they are, and they have the promise of good things to come for them.

That’s it, that’s all.

I generally leave the love interests alone, because I don’t like reading the books that don’t leave the love interests alone at the end of the book.

I do not write tragedies. If I were to write a tragedy, I would not announce that it is my pen name, I would quietly publish it, and none of you would have any idea I was writing a tragedy unless you happen to enjoy tragedies and read it.

Yes, there are circumstances where I simply will not tell my fanbase I’m writing a book, and that is in the case of a tragedy.

Note: tragedies are, to me, defined by major character deaths at the end of the book and darkness and gloom abounding. They’re the kind of book that makes you cry at the end, and there’s nothing happy about it at all.

Please do not mistake “cliffhanger” or “tragedy”, and I feel a bunch of you have failed to distinguish the difference between a cliffhanger and a tragedy.

Furthermore, I do not at all feel like “pointing readers in the direction of the next book’s arc” is a cliffhanger. Look, giving people a reason to pick up the next book is hugely critical for making a series succeed. The lack of this in the Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count) series is why it is dying and soon to be dead.

Take your time to think about it. There’s just NOTHING suggesting the reader should move to the next book. 99.9% of things are tied off in a neat little bow. There’s no overarching immediate plot problem to be solved. (And no, avoiding the End of Days simply doesn’t count for this purpose. It is not driving readers from continuing from one book to another.)

Cover your eyes if you can’t handle minor spoilers:

Lilith Daniels and GP Robbins both use “open arcs” to drive readers from book one to book two. There is a significant arc left open that will not be answered in book one. This has hugely helped both book twos show every sign of doing well now that they are up for preorder (or soon to publish.)

If Lilith Daniels has a 50% increase of her preorders between book one and book two (Example: 1,000 preorders for book one, 1,500 preorders for book two) then I will put in serious thought into opening an arc to continue the storyline. Essentially, I have two endings in my head for how Grave Intentions can go. If there is sufficient interest in Grave Intentions, then I will use the one ending I have in mind. If there isn’t, well, I close off everything, tie it off with a pretty little bow, even close up a bunch of the little things from book one that might have become a spinoff, and let it go to the grave with pretty flowers and a nice ceremony.

I could change my mind and open a new book after the fact, but the reality is… I can tell the story I wanted to tell in two books. Would I like to do more in that world? Yes. But I will be equally happy walking away after two books.

I’ve been told numerous times that Grave Affairs ended in a rather significant cliffhanger. (Naaaah, looool) I do not agree with these readers, and frankly, I disregard their commentary as a general rule.

And I recommend they don’t read my books if that level of “cliffhanger” bothers them.

Please stop thinking “I want to read to read the next book because there’s something interesting on the horizon” is a “cliffhanger.”

It’s really not.

A cliffhanger would be “The love interest of the book does something dangerous and the main character does not know their fate.”

A lead-in is “the love interest and the main character have made the decision to do this something dangerous, and they will be leaving in the next ten minutes.”

You know something dangerous is coming… but the characters are safe for the moment.

Cliffhangers are as the name implies: somebody is hanging off a cliff by their fingertips, and you do not know if they are dead, alive, or other.

But here’s the deal, y’all…

Authors are not responsible for your triggers.

We aren’t responsible if you can’t handle cliffhangers. We are under ZERO obligation to spoil the ending of a book to make you comfortable. And yes, saying a book has a cliffhanger is a HUGE spoiler. You have literally told readers how a book ends…

That completely ruins the reading experience for many people.

Authors cannot know, guess, or even worry about how every single reader will react to something… and it isn’t our responsibility to list triggers, warnings, etc. Every rare now and then, I will put a “Reader discretion is advised” label on a book. This is a courtesy, and it is not ever a requirement.

You are responsible for your emotional and mental health, you are responsible for your triggers, and it is never the responsibility of others to maintain control over you triggers, emotional, or mental health.

Do I care about my readers? Absolutely. That’s part of why I have a few personal rules I follow when I write a book.

Happily for now or happily ever after is one of those rules. But anything else goes… and yes, that includes cliffhangers.

If you cannot handle the responsibility of managing your personal triggers, please do not read my Lilith Daniels or G.P. Robbins titles. These are not comedies despite funny things happening in them. They are darker works with villains who have done reprehensible things.

Your triggers are not my responsibility. NO author is responsible for your triggers.

When I write a book, I am doing so trying to tell the best story possible. If I catered to every reader trigger, every reader preference, every reader complaint, every reader desire… I would have a pretty garbage book.

Yes, my comment on facebook was amused and tongue in cheek, but it serves as a reminder for everyone of these things.

I am not responsible for you.

That includes your likes, your dislikes, your triggers, your personal traumas, your interests, and your personal preferences and opinions on anything in this life (or the next.)

If you can’t handle cliffhangers, I recommend that you stick strictly to my Bernadette Franklin books. They are, at the heart and soul of them, happy romances usually without much in the way of a direct villain and is about people finding and falling in love with each other.

Everything else? It’s not my problem if you can’t handle the material. (Seriously, it’s not. ALL of my stories have dark tendencies EXCEPT the Bernadette Franklin books… and if you haven’t noticed this, you have missed the point of many of the books.)

I write what I love to read… and sometimes, that is going to make people uncomfortable.

And that is not my responsibility. Sorry, but it’s not.

I write happily ever after and happily for now books because that is what makes me happy… but that doesn’t mean every single character is happy for ever or for now… or will even survive to the end of the series.

They just tend to more often than not, as I generally like keeping my characters alive. Living characters provide more plot options. If I am killing off a good guy, there is a damned good reason for that death.

That’s just how I roll.

And yeah, if I ever did decide to write a tragedy… you simply wouldn’t know. Not even on Patreon. (Although Patreon subscribers would be aware that there is a tragedy out there somewhere. And no, I would not tell them or share the book, because the whole point is to be fully separate.)

My reader base is generally escaping tragedy. But seriously, stop overlapping tragedy and cliffhangers. Those are two VERY different things…

A cliffhanger means you don’t know.

A tragedy means you know… and it didn’t end well.

But please, please, please check yourself at the door when it comes to books.

An author is never ever responsible for your triggers.

If we were… we would have to stop writing books, because there is zero chance of making everybody happy or comfortable.