Writing the Climax

[Alexa Autorski]

Hallo, friends!

So… I’m a little stuck. On one of my novels, I’ve hit the climax, where all the suspense, tension, and mystery finally comes together and brings the whole novel to a close. It’s the huge, ah-ha moment for the characters, and the satisfying yet tense moment for the reader. But the thing is, how do you properly execute the climax? How do you keep it suspenseful and make it memorable for the reader and not drag it out? Or keep it from being disappointing? And, one of the most important questions I have, how do you decide where the climax takes place? (Because of certain plot reasons, I have endless possibilities for the climax’s location, you see.)

Basically, my main question is, What are some tips for writing a memorable and powerful climax? I suppose I’m just in need of some help with this one. (It probably doesn’t help that I’m a dedicated pantser, either… *sigh*) Thank you all for the help!:)

@gracie-j @devastate-lasting @issawriter7 @daisy-torres @scripter-of-kingdoms @lewilliams @abigail-m @godlyfantasy12 @nova21 @anyone-who’s-written-a-climax @kathleenramm @hallie-jean @mkfairygirl @i’m-running-out-of-tags

[Gracie J.]

@writerlexi1216 WHOA. #1 CONGRATULATIONS!!!

#2 I just realized I have absolutely no idea how in the great googly moogly I’m gonna answer this question. It’s a great question, don’t get me wrong, I just…I wing EVERYTHING I do, so I have no suggestions on techniques or fancy-schmancy things to tell you.

Umm…wing it? Works for me.

Nah, I can do better than that. Let me think through how I did Held Captive.

Just forget about spoilers for a minute here. In HC, the climax of the novel is the great Chapter 16, where Rina meets her birth parents. (Although, technically, maybe the climax was the end, where she accepts her birth family and gets saved…but to be honest? That’s not half as interesting.) What I tried to do with Chapter 16 is KEEP IT REAL. Realistically (as in, not a reality TV show), no one is going to faint, go hysterical, or immediately accept absolutely everything that’s happening. So, from a more emotional standpoint, when your characters are being bombarded by information, happy endings, resolutions – whatever – keep their emotions in check. They need to react realistically to everything – so maybe that’s confusion, peace, or maybe even anger. Don’t rush things…sometimes they’re still reeling after the events of the novel and need some time to let it all sink in. Give them that.

BUT there are other ways. Like you said, you want your climax to be powerful and not loooooong and boring. So, in Prisoner at Heart, one of the many climaxes (because, yes, I had multiple ones; not recommended XD) occurs early on in the book (since it’s more of a wrap-up of Held Captive rather than PAH, actually) and is pretty short-lived. It happens and BOOM. Everything’s over.

But not everything’s resolved. Some writers are good with coming to that exciting moment, wrapping it up immediately, then launching into an epilogue or ending the book entirely…or just glossing over the next few hours, days, weeks, whatever. So what I’m saying is that even if the climax is short and like an unexpected punch in the gut, don’t just skip ahead to where everyone’s settled and living the high life. Make sense? Show how everyone adjusts and maybe tease the next book, you know?

Pacing aside…location is an interesting question. I never pick a location because I’m a serious pantser (#wingit), so whenever the climax comes, it comes. Makes sense? I just let everything fall into place…but in the event I ever plotted it out, I would make sure it was kinda in the middle of the end, you know? Where most of the hard stuff and heartache is over, but where there’s still some loose ends to be tied up. But for location, I’d just let your story lead you.

All right, ranting’s over. I basically just showed you how I #wingit and why you probably shouldn’t do so…because everything I just told you make absolutely no sense, didn’t it?

Sorry. Maybe that helps…I don’t know. I have ZERO advice on this subject because I literally do wing everything. I mean, it usually turns out okay, so maybe that’s not a bad idea. I’mma just let everyone else pick up my slack. *shrugs* I tried.

the resident romance ghost; last seen within the pages of a gothic novel

[Linyang Zhang]

@writerlexi1216 As a fellow pantser, I am probably not qualified to answer this question. Most of the time I can kind of guess where the climax is by seeing where the falling action starts. But personally I feel like my climaxes are a bit on the bland side.

I think that what I can tell you is go for it, and edit later. After you write it you can ask other people to read it and ask them if they felt like it was dragging on or something.

As to where, I think my climax is usually about halfway through the last third of my book? I think. That’s just a rough guess. Maybe three-quarters of the way through the last third.

Best of luck!

( @not-so-secret-secret-assassin Tagging you in case you have something to share)

Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into days

[Not-So-Secret Secret Assassin]

@writerlexi1216

Sorry, but I got nothing, to be honest I’m probably the type of person kingdom pen was created for.

The only reason I’m here is because @devastate-lasting tagged me, and I gotta stay on top of the whole ‘staying relevant’ thing y’know?

So yeah, I’m in the same boat as you. I shall watch the upcoming posts on this topic with interest.

 

 

Flawless and handsome (as ruled by my grandmother.)

[Anonymous]

@writerlexi1216

I’m a plotter, so I always have the climax clearly outlined, detailed, and planned out to a T long before I begin on page one. 😂

While obviously being a plotter means I advocate plotting, lol, I definitely think that if pantsing comes naturally to you, that’s the way to go. However, I would recommend that somewhere in the middle of the story, stop and give some thought to how you want your ending to go down and how the climax is supposed to lead to that. Ask yourself how the characters need to change, the big event that needs to happen, etc. Then, how will the story get there? Figure out those details at least a couple chapters before you write the climax. I find that completely winging it often results in a jumbled ending and frustration that it didn’t work out the way you wanted.

While working on my climax for The Apostle’s Sister, I decided that the best thing to lead up to the end would actually be to introduce MORE tension before stuff starts calming down. So I basically packed my characters’ worst fears and the most painful trial of their lives into that climax. 😂 That was what would lead up to where the story needed to end – namely, with Temira finally realizing that God uses pain and suffering to teach us beautiful truths, and she needed to have courage and be grateful for that. That was her main conflict during the novel.

So I shoved everything at her – I mean everything. (Also important to note that she causes most of it herself, which can make a climax even more powerful and force the character to really act.) You also probably shouldn’t fix all the conflict in the climax. I leave some of it, because Temira still has a few more difficulties to face and shouldn’t overcome them all until the very end. Fix the major conflicts in the climax, but leave a few, otherwise that’s not the climax – that’s the ending.

Hope this helps!

[GodlyFantasy12]

@writerlxi1216 So….not sure if I can be of much assistance because I feel I could also use some help with this! I’m kinda jumping around in my story so not sure if I’ve reached the climax or not…. Mind if I ask some questions too, and maybe get some info for mine? Maybe we can help each other lol!

I’m wondering exactly where my climax is…..

Is the climax before the kinda “end battle” scenario, or is the “end battle”?

See, I have where my villain is discovered, but it doesn’t go straight into the battle, it takes a few more chapters to get there. So is the villain (murderer) being discovered the climax or the battle between the villain and the heroes???

And I could definitely use some help with how to write emotions for when everything has just kinda been thrown at someone.

(SPOILERS!)

Bit of an example. One of my MCs, Jocelyn, discovers her beloved Uncle murdered. Through a crazy turn of events, rumors and the fact that she was the only one with him when he was found, she ends up being blamed for the crime.

Personality wise, Lyn has been a very naive, gung-ho cheerful girl, so this sudden grief at losing her uncle and shock at the people she’s known her whole life turning against her is a lot, and I’m not sure how to go about making her realistically show emotion without her just completely shutting down or being melodramatic. Would she just become subconsciously quieter? Or maybe her naivety would make her try to believe everything is still okay, and which of those two options would y’all think would be more interesting? Or perhaps both. (Okay now I’m getting ideas whilst writing this XD, I do this a lot. I start answering my own questions lol)

Plus….umm.

MAJOR SPOILER

 

She discovers that the boy she’s had a crush on (their not technically a thing but may as well be type situation) is the one who killed her Uncle. She discovers this while he’s with her in a scene, so how do I display the disbelief, betrayal, grief and fear all in one scene?? Mainly, how do I do that realistically lol.

 

Welp….I guess my questions just stole this whole forum. Sorry. XD Plz answer Lexi’s questions first lol

#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSeb

[GodlyFantasy12]

And I’m not too concerned about it now since I’m in my first draft, but I am planning on trying to outline some after the first draft. (I’m a Plantser)

#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSeb

[ella]

@writerlexi1216

One thing that I suggest is a personality change/evolution in your cast of characters:  the villain might change for better or descend into a downward spiral.  The secondary characters might end up sacrificing themselves for their friends, or maybe they betray them.  The MC might end up getting what they’ve been trying to get the whole journey, or they might lose everything.

This is the best point in your novel for plot twists, so if you have any striking or surprising twists in mind, now’s the time to use them!

Hopefully that helps some.  Congrats for making it so far into your novel!!!  Is it the one about Caira, or is it a new one?

what we do in life echoes in eternity
-gladiator, 2000

[Daisy Torres]

@writerlexi1216 Oooo congrats for reaching your climax!!!

Idk if they’ll help you much, but some tips I’ve picked up are:

The human brain naturally loves to see character(S) argue with others/themself. They don’t need to just all agree at once on a plan and walk into the epic showdown, let them argue, whether it’s with themselves, or with the other characters.

Next, let the villain have a super smart (plot twist) plan that makes him look super smart and like the “good” characters are gonna lose, only for something else to happen that helps the heroes win in the end.

Another one would be to keep yanking on that tension rope XD Keep the descriptions of shadows clawing towards the heroes, keep the villain’s next move secret, keep the heroes afraid, that sort of thing.

Next tip is painful, yet it’s one of my favorite XD

Don’t let your hero(es) walk away unscathed. Blind an eye, scar them emotionally, hurt a side character that’s close to the hero, etc XD It makes the illusion of “safety” disappear for the hero.

 

That’s all I can think of for now! Good luck on your book!!! I’m super excited for you!!!

(P.S, Focus on small details during a huge battle scene, focus on a small, half-burnt doll lying in the ditch of a war-torn town, focus on a torn photo of a stranger’s family, etc. Small details really capture the full “brunt” of how the huge war/whatever effected the “smaller” areas, too.)

 

 

"It's easy to be caught up in stardust and whispers when reality is so dark and loud."

[Keilah H.]

@daisy-torres I injure my characters a lot…..like getting both their left arm cut off and their left eye blinded in one slash….Yeah, I can’t tolerate severed human anything in real life but do all kinds of things to my characters

Where'd I get ya this time? The liver? The kidney? I'm runnin' outta places to put holes in ya.

[relia]

@writerlexi1216

I wrote an entire post before realizing that it all could be summed up into “I just gain momentum and go where the mood takes me because I am a pantser”. So not very helpful.

Actual stuff that helps me, though…

– Having photos and music as “reference” to the mood, location, etc. It also keeps me fully immersed in my writing.

– Remembering to keep your characters constant; they aren’t going to change their entire personality because of a shock or big event.

– Let your climax be awful because it’s better to write something bad and learn from it, than to spend ages trying to make it good and not actually writing. Also because editing.

As to where to place the climax, it depends. I feel like about 3/4 through the story is a good rule of thumb, though. That way you have time to develop everything before and time to resolve things after. Just make sure that it makes logical sense when compared to the pace of your book.

Good luck! 🙂

I can't think of anything witty at the moment.

[Daisy Torres]

@keilah-h Loooolll poor characters XDD We really do so much to them T_T

And yeah same, I can’t stand reading or watching any kind of gore or anything, but I do tend to hurt my characters a bit XD Not too much, because if it’s constantly dark, then I tend to lose interest, but definitely enough to spice things up XD

"It's easy to be caught up in stardust and whispers when reality is so dark and loud."

[Alexa Autorski]

@gracie-j

Girl, thank you so much! And that post was SO helpful! It made total sense and really helped me out with writing my climax!

@devastate-lasting

Thank you! That was so helpful! 🙂

@not-so-secret-secret-assassin

Hopefully this’ll help ya out as much as it did me! *tips hat* Best of luck.

@joy-caroline

That was SO helpful, Joy, thank you! 😀 (Also, please teach me the secrets of outlining XD)

@godlyfantasy12

Thank you for that help!!:) (Also, if you were asking, the climax is the final end battle)

@nova21

Whoa, that was super helpful! Thank you, Ella! (And yes, that’s the one! 😉 )

@daisy-torres

Thank you!! And double thank you for that help!! It’ll totally help me with writing my climax. 🙂

@keila-h

Ah, I totally agree with you there! I’m the exact same way… *sighs* Poor characters. XD.

@relia

Thank you SO very much for that help!! I’ll think about doing that! 🙂

THANK Y’ALL SO MUCH FOR ALL OF THE HELP (and encouragement)! I feel much better already. *tips fedora* Au revoir.

[Gracie J.]

@writerlexi1216 Wa-wa-wa-wait. That helped? DUDE! Well, I’m glad I could be of service and I’m glad everything worked out!!!!!!!!!!!

the resident romance ghost; last seen within the pages of a gothic novel

[Alexa Autorski]

@gracie-j

Of course it did! ‘Twas very helpful indeed. 😉 Thank you!

[Author]

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