Understanding Climax

Thinking about where your story is leading to... even when you aren't there yet.

Photo by Alexander Milo on Unsplash

The climax of a story is pivotal to having a story that satisfies the reader. There is nothing worse than spending hours dedicated to a story, only to have the peak point fall flat. So, it is our endeavour to help you avoid the flat climax and prepare yourself and your story to get the most out of the narrative drive… resulting in satisfied readers (at least that is one of the goals). So… first things first. What even is a climax?

What is a Story’s Climax?

Ultimately, the climax of your story, at its very core is the key dramatic turning point for your characters. The word climax comes from the Greek word klimax, meaning “ladder” or “staircase”. Based on the etymology of the word we get a picture of the slope up (the rising tension) that culminates together to lead up to what we call the climax of the story. This is actually a really important point to consider when we look at the climax of our story. Most people think about climax as that single scene that everything leads to. While this IS true, if isolated, we forget to think about everything that leads up to that point - the staircase to the peak so to speak.

The climax point is usually near the end of the third act (often 85-90% of the way through the story) at the pivotal moment in which the protagonist must face the things which the whole story has been leading up to. This is the key point - the story has been leading up to this point. So, even if you are not up to physically writing your climax right now, it is still a good time to start to think about where everything is leading to. A well structured story will pull together all the tension that has been built from the story start, through the rising action and pull the reader into a point of ultimate tension.

What does good Climax need?

The problem for many writers comes when they get to the climax and focus on making something that is so action packed and full of exciting twists and turns, but they forget the key to an impactful climax: CHARACTER TRANSFORMATION. Not only does our external conflict come together in order to reach a climax, but we must also consider how our characters have been transformed (the internal conflict). At the crisis (sometimes referred to as the midpoint) our protagonist is often prepositioned with a choice. They must decide something that has the potential to change their life or the world in which they live. It is then at the climax that they finally must make this decision. It is the final test/ the biggest challenge that reveals how far your protagonist has really come. Often it is in this scene they will also use the knowledge and skills that they have accumulated up to this point to solve the big problem or defeat the bad guy once and for all (external climax) and reach their own growth moment (internal climax). From this point they should never be the same.

In addition to the character transformation, your climax should also consider the theme, values and/or point that you have set up to this point. What is it that your protagonist is to learn/discover about themselves and/or the world they live in. It is now that this comes to it’s point. If your climax does not bring your theme to a point and make your protagonist choose, it will fall flat (more on how to fix flat climaxes in a future blog post).

So What do I need to do?

Well, have you considered where your story is leading? Different from the ending of the story (once everything has been said and done and the lesson is learnt) - the climax is the outworking of this, right in the action of the moment. If you are struggling, ask yourself the question: what will happen externally that will lead to their internal growth? Who do they need to confront? What needs to break internally and how will this happen?

Ultimately, if you get nothing else from this post, take away this: Your climax can not come out of no where - the steps of the ladder lead up to, hint to and provide a logical tipping point for your characters (in particular your protagonist) to reach their ultimate transformation.

The climax of your story is so important to get right. Often we see writers spend ages on their story starts, fine tuning and perfecting their first 30 pages, and then they rush through the rest of their story getting it out on the page. A strong climax MUST be thought through and calculated. There is nothing worse than getting all the way through a story and feeling like everything lead to nothing. So to avoid having a flat climax, here’s 5 Do’s and Don’ts to make sure your climax hits as good as your story start.