What are the 4 cliffhanger types?
The four types are revelation, threat, decision and interruption.
1) REVELATION (someone learns something the reader needs to react to). 2) THREAT (immediate danger, unresolved). 3) DECISION (character must choose, scene ends before they answer). 4) INTERRUPTION (event happens that changes everything). Rotate. Same type twice in a row trains readers to ignore.
Which cliffhanger type works best?
Decision cliffhangers tend to work best because the reader is now mentally solving the problem during the wait. The usual ranking is Decision > Interruption > Threat > Revelation. The other three are reactive; decision is participatory.
Why do opening hooks matter as much as endings?
A cliffhanger only works if the next chapter pays off in the first 200 words. Don't open the next chapter with a flashback or scene change. Resolve, then pivot.
For the opening side, see the Chapter 1 template, and for chapter-to-chapter rhythm see the pacing and cliffhanger formula.
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Why do cliffhangers help Patreon?
A reader stuck on a cliff is the reader most tempted by your advance chapters. Don't end every chapter on one, though: rotate types and let some scenes close naturally, or the tension stops landing. See Patreon perks that convert for how to offer those advance chapters.
One caution: every cliffhanger is a promise. Keep track of the ones still waiting, so you pay each off instead of dropping it. PlotWrite's Threads check in the editor shows which story lines have gone quiet, and the Continuity report lists promises still waiting. Its Reader view, part of Check chapter, also scores your chapter's cliffhanger the way a Royal Road reader would feel it. You write the endings; it just remembers what you promised.