Once you have got your hooks into a reader with a punchy, dramatic start to a story, the only thing that will keep them reading (apart from your lambent prose, of course) is the irresistible urge to know what happens next and it is up to you to dole out your plot as tantalisingly as possible. As with affairs of the heart, it is a balance between giving and withholding: you give them a little bit of information, but withhold the critical part.You promise much, but you don't deliver straight away. This is in effect what a cliffhanger is: you march your hero or heroine right to the brink of a major drama - and then you leave them (and your reader) in suspense.
Following a cliffhanger, it is a good idea to cut away from the excitement to something that has a different pace and texture, a different mood, even a different location, involving different characters. In this way your reader's curiosity - their desire - is inflamed. Plotting as a kind of flirtation, a come-on? Hmmm.
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