07-16-2011, 05:13 AM | #1 |
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What is it called?
What is it called when an author ends chapters with "I thought things were bad, but I couldn't have been more wrong" or "... as I was about to find out, things were much more complicated"?
Would that be called foreshadowing or is there another more apt name/description? |
07-16-2011, 01:27 PM | #2 |
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I've always called it cliffhanging.
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07-18-2011, 06:42 PM | #3 |
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I'm with you, Mr P.
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07-19-2011, 01:38 AM | #4 |
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It's a so-called cliffhanger.
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07-19-2011, 03:49 PM | #5 |
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I wouldn't call the given example a cliffhanger. To me, a cliffhanger implies that the chapter ends with a character in dire straits (such as hanging from the edge of a cliff).
The example given in the opening post could be called a cliffhanger in the general sense that it's a sentence designed to hook the reader's attention and get him to turn the next page. The literary technique of hinting at events that are yet to come is called foreshadowing, but I don't know of any special terminology for foreshadowing that's positioned at the end of a chapter. |
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07-20-2011, 02:34 AM | #6 |
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Thanks Nancy. I'm going to stick to foreshadowing. That seems to be the best description of what I'm looking for.
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07-20-2011, 10:58 AM | #7 |
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Actually Nancy might have given us all the answer. It's a hook.
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07-20-2011, 12:20 PM | #8 |
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After some further searching I found out the correct term is prognostications.
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07-20-2011, 05:39 PM | #9 |
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07-21-2011, 02:31 AM | #10 |
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True, but it doesn't quite reflect that the author is using vague references of events still to come in order to build tension.
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07-22-2011, 07:05 AM | #11 |
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Yep.
Cliffhanger or Foreshadowing...but the example is a bit too direct to really be foreshadowing which (at least to me) should be somewhat subtle. I've always thought of "hook" in an marketing sense or book/chapter opening sense. Hook the reader in the beginning to keep them on the line. Either as the first part of a chapter/novel or in a query letter or in an advertisement. Last edited by kennyc; 07-22-2011 at 07:07 AM. |
07-22-2011, 04:33 PM | #12 | |
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Quote:
And I'm going to remember the term 'prognostications' so I can look all erudite the next time I'm on a convention panel... |
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07-22-2011, 04:36 PM | #13 |
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07-22-2011, 08:03 PM | #14 |
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I've always called that sort of thing ...
real life. |
07-23-2011, 03:02 AM | #15 |
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Then you better hope I got the terminology right. English IS my second language after all!
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