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@mayacat Hee hee, cliffhangers. . . the only way to end chapters. ;D

I have only seen so much of your writing, so I won’t be able to give specific advice yet, but off the top of my head, there are a couple of things that come to mind. One is to make sure your readers already care so much about your characters that they’re actually concerned when you leave their fate in the balance. (Just from the forum stuff, though, I’m already loving Rin and Kenma. They’re fantastic.) The other is to not leave a fake cliffhanger. Meaning, if you make it sound like there’s a dangerous situation, continue the danger in the next chapter. It’s disappointing to flip the page to the next chapter, expecting danger and excitement, only to find that it disappears after the first page.

Like. . . for example. If a character is heading down a dangerous alleyway in the dark and a threatening-looking shadow suddenly appears at the end, that could potentially be a good cliffhanger. However, if on the next page you reveal it was just his best friend, that immediately sucks all the drama out of it and leaves it flat. It also sets expectations for the future in readers’ minds. On the other hand, if the character meets a robber at the end, you’re satisfying the expectations you set. Or you could throw readers for a loop by having the shadow be his best friend, but the friend is on the run from a gang and needs his help ASAP. Y’know, different ways it could be played.

But maybe none of that applies to your situation! If not, feel free to ignore lol. But I’ll try to keep thinking on this.