THE CLIFFHANGER
The cliffhanger is one of my favorite devices. If you’ve ever watched the season finale of a TV series, or heard teasers for TV news or newsmagazines that say things like “Is green tea the new miracle cure for cancer? Film at eleven,” you already understand the concept.
This is a variation of the Zeigarnik effect. The uncompleted thought demands our attention. As a result, we eagerly sit in front of our TV sets to see the season premieres of our favorite shows just to find out what happens next or listen to an entire news broadcast just to hear that 30-second snippet that answers the question that’s been bugging our brains.
You can imagine the impact this principle has on web copy. Whenever I break my copy into multiple webpages ...
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