Okay, okay, that was kind of mean. But also really funny. Anyway, cliffhangers!
But first, a note on chapters.
Remember the weeks of 2,000 or 3,000 word chapters? No longer gonna happen. I'm just gonna have shorter chapters with a narrower scope, and a lot of chapters on the same general topic instead of one big chapter. This is A Lot easier to manage. Sorry if you wanted more of my wonderful content.
So, onto cliffhangers.
You don't want to just totally pull something out of your hat. The cliffhanger should follow a preexisting plot thread. Like, don't have everything going well, seems like the plot resolved, and then OH NO SHE TRIPPED AND FELL INTO THE PIT OF ETERNAL DOOM!
Let's be real, if I was a character in a book, that's probably how my story would end. But I'm pretty sure I exist. And the pit of eternal doom doesn't.
Where was I? Right. Your cliffhanger shouldn't just come out of the blue. Lead up to it. If it's the pit of eternal doom, the reader can just ignore the last two sentences and everything's fine, they don't care about a sequel. But if the subject of the cliffhanger shows up consistently throughout the story, then the reader can't ignore the bad parts without totally ignoring the whole story. Which, if it's good, they can't do.
Let's say the antagonists are always a step ahead, and we're pretty sure there's a traitor somewhere, but we don't know who it is. And then the book ends with someone saying "I can't believe I missed it. It was so obvious who our traitor is, the whole time!"
And then they don't say who. The book ends.
Readers will LOSE THEIR MINDS. Seriously. Everyone would go nuts trying to find this "obvious" evidence and no one really knows who it is and they're all just freaking out. That's a cliffhanger, man.
In the middle of a fight, that would be a fun one. Not necessarily, like, cuts off in the middle of an action packed sentence, but just... throw in some meaningful dialogue and end the book.
"You," Luz gasped for breath. "Are never going to win."
Emperor Belos smiled. Despite the typically friendly gesture, the glint in his eyes made her blood run cold."I already have."
The end! :D
That seems like an ending, at least, but it leaves the readers going "but wait what's going to happen in the fight??? Who's gonna win??"
Another one that works, particularly in adventure or heist stories, the characters are planning to execute a plan to explore or break in somewhere. And then they get there, boom. The end.
Think Six Of Crows, they spend a lot of the book trying to get into the ice court, right? And it's a long book. Could probably be split into two. So just... blah blah blah, Kaz Brekker fainted, the end. Wait a year to find out what happens in the ice court and if their plan works and does Nina get her waffles?!
So yeah, cliffhangers. Make it suspenseful, but not over the top. Don't build yourself a cliff you can't climb back on top of. Considering my general level of coordination, I might trip into the pit of eternal doom, but I probably won't, and you'll hear more of my expert advice in a bit!