TERRIFIC TRANSITIONS
Barbara Dawson Smith

How many times have you said, "I'm going to read one more chapter, then I'm going to bed?" But when you reach that point, you just have to go on. You can't stand not knowing what's going to happen next. This is a result of good hooks at the end of every chapter and scene.

A scene should never peter out. Drop a bombshell. Hint at conflict to come. Ask a question. Have the heroine make a decision that throws her into conflict with the hero. Let's look at some examples.

There's the Classic Cliffhanger, where you leave the heroine literally hanging by her nails to a cliff. (Though, of course, it doesn't have to be physical danger.) In the following example, from A WELL-PLEASURED LADY by Christina Dodd, the heroine, Mary, has finally gotten her hands on the diary that the villain stole from Mary's former employer. Here's the big climactic scene where Mary faces down the villain on a rooftop in the rain.

"It's starting to rain." Mary backed down the wall, careful to stay out of reach. "If I drop the diary now, it could be soaked by the time you get it. Useless. The ink running together."

A fanatical expression hardened his face. "Be a good lass and give that to me."

"I won't let you shoot Sebastian."

"Very well." He turned the pistol on her, and she saw his intention in the tensing of his face. "I'll shoot you."

Now, of course, Christina Dodd opened the next chapter in another scene, with another character, in another place, leaving the reader and poor Mary facing a crazed gunman. You simply can't stop reading at this point!

The next type of ending is The Surprise. The example is from THE LIGHTKEEPER by Susan Wiggs. The hero is the lightkeeper at a remote place in the Pacific Northwest. He's a loner who has had some awful things happen in his past, and he's struggling to keep the heroine from threatening his vulnerable heart. Here is how one chapter ends:

He looked Mary Dare square in the eye. How calm and sane she looked, though pale, slightly apprehensive. As well she should be. Who the hell was he to think he could let her into his life? She had lulled him into a false sense that he could be a man again. And that was wrong. He could never be. Not now. Not ever.

And so he told Mary the truest thing he knew about that day at Astoria harbor.

"What happened to my wife?" His voice was brutal. "I killed her."

Surprise! Our hero is guilty of killing his wife! This is what I mean by throwing something unexpected at the reader, something to keep her turning the pages. Who wouldn't want to read on?

Last is the Impending Conflict. In my book, HER SECRET AFFAIR, (St. Martin's Press, 4/98), the heroine's mother was a high-class courtesan, and she was murdered--or so the heroine believes. Isabel blackmails her way into society so that she can find the nobleman who did the deed. The hero's father, the duke of Lynwood, is one of the suspects, and so Kern (the hero) is determined to stop her from stirring up a scandal. Here is the end of one scene:

Kern bent closer to Isabel, speaking for her alone. "I forbid you to contact Lynwood."

"Forbid?" she whispered, edging a coquettish glance up at him. "Fie, sir, you speak strongly for a man who has no jurisdiction over me."

He gritted his teeth. "Nevertheless, you'll listen well. Should I find you anywhere near Lynwood, there'll be hell to pay."

Clearly, something is about to happen. We know that Isabel will stop at nothing to discover who murdered her mother. We know she's going to question Lynwood, regardless of what Kern says, and that means she and Kern will have a big confrontation later! So we feel compelled to read on.

You must continually promise the reader drama to come. If only she will keep on reading, some exciting, dramatic, important thing is going to happen. I make a conscious effort to end every scene, every chapter, on something enticing. Something that will draw the reader deeper into the plot.

Above all else, don't ever let her put the book down.

©Barbara Dawson Smith