How to Use Internal Cliffhangers

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Microseduction.
I consider an episode of The Lede wildly successful when we create a new word. In this episode of The Lede about using internal cliffhangers, Demian Farnworth does just that.
Here it is:

miåácroåáseåáducåátion
noun

a slow, patient process for creating a emotional tie in an audience member to a piece of media

The ÛÏdribbling of bread crumbs so the bunny rabbit follows you back to your house.Û

synonym: internal cliffhanger

But how do you use that word in a sentence? And how will it help you write copy that your audience finds irresistible?
Listen and find out.
In this episode, we answer a number of questions about internal cliffhangers, such as:

What are internal cliffhangers and how do they work?
Do internal cliffhangers have to be sensationalized to be effective?
Do they need to be witty or clever?
Can internal cliffhangers begin as early as the introduction?
What, specifically, should writers be doing to get better at incorporating internal cliffhangers?

Listen to The Lede Û_
To listen, you can either hit the flash audio player below, or browse the links to find your preferred format Û_

The Show Notes

How to Keep Your Audience Reading ÛÓ by Demian Farnworth
Hangout Hot Seat with Brian Clark ÛÓ last weekÛªs episode of The Lede
You WonÛªt Finish This Article ÛÓ by Farhad Manjoo
Why Does The World Exist ÛÓ by Jay Holt
Emotional Structure ÛÓ by Peter Dunne

The Transcript
Click here to read the transcript
Please note that this transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and grammar.
The Lede Podcast: How to Use Internal Cliffhangers
Jerod Morris: Welcome back to The Lede, a podcast about content marketing by Copyblogger Media. IÛªm your host, Jerod Morris. If you want to get a content marketing education on the drive to or from work, this podcast is the way to do it.
Last week we brought you a special edition episode: The Hangout Hot Seat, with Copyblogger CEO Brian Clark. If you missed that episode, be sure to go to http://copyblogger.com/hot-seat to get caught up.
Today, Demian Farnworth and I resume our series on the essential ingredients of a blog post with another ingredient designed to keep readers attached to your words and desperate to find out what youÛªre about to say next. WhatÛªs the ingredient? Keep listening, and weÛªll tell you.
Okay, Demian. So weÛªre continuing here on our journey along this path of the 11 essential ingredients of a blog post. And we started out with magnetic headlines and openings, how to grab attention. And now as weÛªre here in this middle part weÛªre talking more about how to keep attention. How to keep people going down the page, keep them engaged with exquisite subheads and telling a seductive story, which weÛªve addressed in these last two episodes. Now weÛªre talking about how to keep attention with internal cliffhangers.
So tell us, Demian, what is an internal cliffhanger? How does it work?
What are internal cliffhangers and how do they work?
Demian Farnworth: Okay. So let me just go back to an article that I mentioned a couple of podcasts ago. ItÛªs ÛÏYou WonÛªt Finish This Article,Û by Farhad Manjoo in Slate, and basically Farhad was making a point in his article saying that most people donÛªt finish an article. Only about 50% of the people get 50% of the way through it. So this is a little bit relevant to our discussion about the internal cliffhanger because really, now that youÛªve got their attention with the headline, youÛªve pulled them in with the seductive image, you got them to read your first sentence, and so on, now to keep them coming down that page you use such tricks like the internal cliffhanger.
Internal cliffhangers are statements or devices that stitch your story, article, or podcast together using emotions and shock. And itÛªs inside a piece of content that entices a reader to keep going.
So, for example, weÛªre all familiar with cliffhangers in culture, right? Soap operas. At the end of the episode the patriarch discovers that his wife is also his daughter, right? So thatÛªs a cliffhanger, and youÛªve got to see the answer in the next show. There are episodic TV shows like Lost. IÛªve never seen that. I know that you have, Jerod.
Jerod: Yeah.
Demian: But IÛªve heard that they were very, very good about keeping you glued until the end of the show, and then just sort of doing something that startled you, kept you wanting to see the next one.
And of course you see this also in newscasts, where the anchor will say, ÛÏAfter the break weÛªll learn which city politician confessed to smoking crack with a 10-year-old kid,Û something like that, where youÛªre like, ÛÏOh! Okay!Û So IÛªmÛ_
Jerod: IÛªve got to hear that, yeah.
Demian: Right. Exactly. And so thatÛªs the same point inside of your article, your post that youÛªre creating, and of course this same technique works inside any kind of content that youÛªre creating, any kind of media that youÛªre creating, whether itÛªs this podcast, for example. You can do it inside there. You can do it inside of your blog articles. You can do it inside of videos where youÛªre using suspense, humor, challenges, dramatic surprises, positioning something is at stake so people want to find out what happens to the main hero, or whatever. And something is withheld, too.
Jerod: So if I were going to use an internal cliffhanger in this podcast, I could say something like, ÛÏMake sure you listen all the way to the end, when Demian provides some essential tools for adding internal cliffhangers to your post.Û
Demian: Yeah.
Jerod: ThatÛªd be an example of an internal cliffhanger?
Demian: Yeah. Absolutely. And of course, youÛªve done that early on, so people are then sort of invested. At least they can make that evaluation. They can make that evaluation, whether theyÛªre going to stay through whatever. So itÛªs going to be a good one, right.
Jerod: Right. Okay. And to everybody listening, make sure you listen Ûªtill the end when Demian does provide some tools that you can use to add internal cliffhangers to your posts. But before we get there Û_
Do internal cliffhangers have to be sensationalized to work?
Jerod: So we hear about cliffhangers, and especially like you mentioned on episodic TV. A lot of times cliffhangers are kind of sensationalized, right? You know, hyperbole, kind of crazy. Can you do them without being sensational?
Demian: Yeah. ThatÛªs a great question. So thereÛªs this great example of that, and this is kind of what got me started on this thread of thinking about internal cliffhangers.
I was reading a book a couple of years ago by Jim Holt called ÛÏWhy Does The World Exist,Û and itÛªs basically a journalist who explores all the philosophical ideas behind the existence of the universe. So heÛªs interviewing scientists, philosophers, theologians, and getting their take on it.
For most people itÛªs probably a dry read. I like the topic to begin with, but even then there had to be reasons to keep reading, and he did that with internal cliffhangers. He would string together statements throughout the chapter, like even within the chapters, statements like, ÛÏOf course orthodox believers can always respond to a scenario like LynnÛªs by saying, ÛÏOkay, but who created the physicist hacker? LetÛªs hope itÛªs not hackers all the way up,Û where itÛªs a turn of phrase or a way he positions something. He makes some sort of challenge thatÛªs believable, and itÛªs credible, and itÛªs not full of hyperbole or sensational, emotional, heartstring tugging.
One of my favorite quotes that he did throughout that book, he said, ÛÏOne can only hope it doesnÛªt turn out to be a bridge of asses,Û and of course, all of this really makes sense only if youÛªre reading the book. But that, in a sense, shows HoltÛªs wit and humor as he is writing this book, which kept me wanting to keep on reading. So thatÛªs the internal cliffhanger.
Do internal cliffhangers need to be witty or clever?
Jerod: And everybody has a different skill level as a writer, so not everybody may be able to use wit and humor, effectively anyway, to string a post or a story along. Are there some more, say, pedestrian ways to create suspense, perhaps in ways that arenÛªt quite as taxing on the brain or require so much skill?
Demian: Yeah. I think you hit the nail on the head by saying that. This is a skill that you develop, and I think a great place to start is to simply just think about phrases like, ÛÏfor example,Û or ÛÏlet me explain,Û or ÛÏhereÛªs what I mean, hereÛªs why.Û Those are probably the most well-known, overused ways of thinking about internal cliffhangers.
But if you think about it in that way, you can use those almost sort of like a template or formula where you make a statement, and then you say, ÛÏand let me explain.Û ThatÛªs just encouraging people to keep on reading. And so what I found, too, in just looking back over the history of learning how to write, thatÛªs one of the very first things that I learned, and they call them transition statements, where they make the transition from one idea to another one easy.
If you think about it in that way, that helps train you to think about as youÛªre writing that every time I make a statement, I need to think about how IÛªm going to turn the corner with that statement. Whether itÛªs going to be something sensational, or itÛªs going to be a challenge, or if itÛªs going to be my wit, or something. But you can start by doing that. Just training yourself to recognize those times by using these sort of pedestrian ways of ÛÏlike for example,Û ÛÏlet me explain.Û
And of course, I think a really great sort of internal cliffhanger is dialogue. I donÛªt think a lot of people probably think about that. But dialogue in articles stops people. We know that there are studies that have been done that people will stop and read dialogue, because they sense there are two humans connecting here. There is a human interest sort of bonding going on, so theyÛªre interested in reading that.
Jerod: So as we talk about this, it sounds to me like there is some overlap between our last episode. We talked about seduction, right?
Demian: Mmm-hmm.
Jerod: And we talked about kind of pulling the reader along, and even giving them a little bit, but not everything. It sounds like internal cliffhangers, in a way, are a lot like that. To where youÛªre kind of seducing the reader. YouÛªre giving them a little bit, not everything, to keep them engaged, keep them wondering whatÛªs next. WhatÛªs around the corner? Would that be a fair assessment and accurate assessment?
Demian: Absolutely. Like I mentioned at the beginning of the show, internal cliffhangers are just one trick, you know, one trick out of the tool box as far as keeping that reader reading throughout there, inside the actual text. So yeah. ItÛªs a great way to position it.
Can internal cliffhangers begin as early as the introduction?
Jerod: Would one way to include internal cliffhangers be ÛÓ because IÛªve seen this a lot. You use them in your introduction, right? And almost kind of hint at what the conclusion might be. Obviously, you donÛªt give it away, but you kind of hint at it.
Demian: Mmm-hmm.
Jerod: And then save it all the way for the conclusion. Do you want internal cliffhangers that have that big of a gap between the payoff, or is that not an advisable way to do it?
Demian: No, thatÛªs a perfectly acceptable way to do it. You have to keep in mind, though, donÛªt let that be your only internal cliffhanger.
Make a great promise, great tease at the front, but then throughout make what I call microseductions. The sort of dribbling the bread crumbs so the bunny rabbit follows you back to your house, right? ItÛªs really just a slow, kind of patient process.
Certainly, making a huge promise and some kind of payoff at the end is acceptable. But donÛªt forget to do that throughout to keep people reading.
What should writers be doing to get better at incorporating internal cliffhangers?
Jerod: Okay. So any final tools or tips that you can share with the listeners about how to involve internal cliffhangers in their posts? Any additional ones, I suppose?
Demian: Yeah. So I think this one is really just about being observant, right? And I think thatÛªs a lot about what ÛÓ as a writer yourself you can probably relate to that, this idea that youÛªre really just paying attention to what other people are doing, how other people do it.
So keep your eyes open. Watch reality TV. Watch the news. Watch shows like Lost. Watch movies that do this really well. Read or watch plays.
And thereÛªs one book that I read that was called ÛÏEmotional Structure,Û and itÛªs by Peter Dunne, whoÛªs an MENP body award-winning producer. But he wrote a book called ÛÏEmotional Structure,Û and in that he just spoke about this idea of creating a sort of emotional tie. Because really, I think a lot of times we writers underestimate the power of internal cliffhangers, the power of a seduction, the power of an emotional plea. We think we have to sort of pour on the emotion, pour on the sensation, in order to keep the reader. But we vastly underestimate their ability to hang on to something that may not be as substantial as we think that it should.
So in other words, all basically that IÛªm saying is sort of respect your readersÛª intelligence, and realize ÛÓ pay attention to the books that you read, and realize that yeah, there is an emotional pull going on there. There is something about that article. Figure out what that is, but also realize itÛªs not really heavy-duty kind of, industrial-level sort of work. ItÛªs really just sort of simple ÛÓ creating somewhat of an emotional tie. And that keeps people reading.
Because when we can relate to a character, when we can relate to a problem, you know, we keep reading. Because as long as weÛªre interested it doesnÛªt matter how long the copy is. It doesnÛªt matter how long your article is, as long as youÛªre interested, thatÛªll keep you reading.
So thatÛªs your job, is to pay attention to the things that are going on out there. Sort of study and deconstruct the way other people creating persuasive and compelling content, and try to adopt and adapt that into your own work.
Jerod: Good advice as always, Demian. All right, everybody. We will be back soon with another one. Only three more of these ingredients to go.
Demian: Thank you, everybody. Appreciate it.
Jerod: Thank you for listening to The Lede. If youÛªre enjoying these episodes, please consider giving us a rating or a review on iTunes. You can also tweet about the show or share it with a friend. We appreciate any and all love you can send our way.
Tune in next week when Demian and I are joined by Sonia Simone to discuss the controversial decision to remove blog comments on Copyblogger. Talk to you soon, everybody.
# # #

*Credits: Both the intro (ÛÏBridge to NowhereÛ by Sam Roberts Band) and outro songs (ÛÏDown in the ValleyÛ by The Head and the Heart) are graciously provided by express written consent from the rights owners.
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About the authorJerod MorrisJerod Morris is the Director of Content for Copyblogger Media. Get more from him on Twitter, Google+, or at JerodMorris.com.

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