Hey! It’s Emily! Today we’re jumping into one of the biggest parts of a successful story and 5 concepts to consider when writing it. If you’ve reached the climax of your story, then you are so close to the end, but you want to make sure you can stick your landing and make this journey worth it. So let’s take a look as some things to keep in mind as you prepare your magnificent ending:
1) The Role
Before planning your climax, you must know how it functions in the broad scope of the story. The climax is the point in the narrative that reaches the highest stakes—the moment the main character must make a choice, complete a task, defeat an enemy, or potentially all three. The climax is the answer to your story’s question, or the solution to its problem, and this will be the juncture your readers have been waiting for on the edges of their seats. Everything in your story has been building to this.
The climax typically occurs during the last quarter of the story, but often around the 90% mark, right after the rising action when the main character reaches their lowest point, right before the story’s resolution and falling action when the story reaches its end. A novel cannot fully exist without the climax, and the climax should be the center of your story, the element to which everything else points.
In Honeycomb’s story The Threadborne Throne, Honey must both make a choice and defeat an enemy. The other threads of the story—her brother’s disappearance, her family’s tapestry trade, her quest into the world and the knowledge she gains—all lead to this moment and provide the context and build-up to how Honey chooses to act.
2) The Context
Because every other element of the story affects the climax, you should consider the context surrounding this climactic scene. If your main character must make a choice, you must understand their motivations and arc—what they wanted, how they have grown, and where they are supposed to end. Often, the climax gives the main character a chance to showcase everything they have learned, such as in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone when Harry must take all the skills he has acquired while at Hogwarts to make it through the trials and puzzles to the final room.
Your readers should also clearly understand the stakes during your story’s climax, because this is when the stakes are higher than they have ever been. Readers should know, or be able to guess, what the consequences are should the main character fail, as well as what the main character could stand to achieve should they succeed. If you’ve planned well, you likely will have built up these stakes over the course of the whole novel, letting the threats build up during the rising action and then reaching their peak during this climactic scene.
For example, in The Threadborne Throne, the inciting incident causes Honey to leave the safety and certainty of home to look for her little brother Hunter who she later discovers has left of his own free will to pursue a legend about a chosen hero. Hunter hopes he can become this hero and save the kingdom from a monster that will soon awaken. Stakes build during this plotline because Honey cannot convince her brother to return home, which destroys her vision of a future safe in Ilverseed with her family and puts Hunter at constant risk.
Similarly, during Honey’s travels across the kingdom she learns more about her family’s history and the origins of their trade. As she works to mend the unraveling tapestry her parents gave her before she left, she notices that the beast that once hid in the corner has grown bigger and has moved to the center. The stakes increase when Honey learns that the beast is the Unraveler, and that the tapestry is not just a portrayal but its prison, yet not before it has already escaped. Now the stakes are high—a legendary beast has broken loose and Honey is to blame. And, it turns out, the only one capable of stopping it. Honey learns that the chosen hero is her role, not Hunter’s, and she must sacrifice her peaceful life to take it up.
3) The Theme
This brings us to the theme. Your story’s climax should reflect your story’s theme, answering a question you or the characters posed. This climactic scene will reveal the truth to your readers. What is the right choice? And did the main character make it? Have they learned enough to do so? Will they have to sacrifice something? How will their choice affect the world?
The Threadborne Throne focuses on the theme of duty and adaptability. In our story, Honey begins the novel having a clear plan: she will stay in Ilverseed, marry her childhood friend Flint, continue the family business, and keep her loved ones close. She never expects that her family will fall apart, that Flint may not reciprocate her feelings, that the family business is more than just simple weaving. Our story addresses Honey’s lack of control. She cannot convince her brother to return, she cannot mend the tapestry, she cannot live her peaceful life. Our climax poses the question if Honey will reject her duty and destiny or adapt and take the role that only she can. And she does, choosing to forever sacrifice her own peace to fight for others’ peace.
4) The Genre
While Honey’s story may feature a climactic battle, not every climax will. An important aspect to consider is your novel’s genre. For example, a contemporary romance novel may pose the question of whether the male and female leads will fall in love and end up together despite their differences, and the climax may then show the two leads reuniting in the airport and confessing their love to each other, right before one of them almost left the country forever. A mystery novel may ask “whodunnit” and have its readers guessing the killer and his motive, only for the climax to reveal that the murderer was the butler all along! Gasp!
Whatever your genre, plan a climax that works for it. Read similar novels and take notice of when the stakes climb high, the characters face a choice, and the story answers a question, and learn what a climax in that genre can look like. The Threadborne Throne, of course, is young adult fantasy, so it makes sense in the climax for Honey to use her weaving powers to defeat the Unraveler and save the kingdom.
5) The Conclusion
Then, finally, we reach the conclusion. I won’t discuss the ending to The Threadborne Throne just yet—Gabby will do that in our next blog post—but I will advise that you know your novel’s ending before you work on your climax. Not only should you know what choice your character will make during the climax, but also what consequences, whether good or bad, will follow. Has your character done the right thing and therefore will live happily ever after? Or have they had to sacrifice their happily ever after in order to do the right thing? Have they rejected the right thing entirely? Your answers to these questions will affect your climax as much as your resolution, so try to have your end goal in mind.
Next Steps
Read books. Search for examples. Brainstorm. Draft. Request feedback. Repeat. Every serious writer is familiar with this process, and though it sometimes seems never ending, I promise that learning from others and practicing for yourself will work your writing skills like a muscle until your craft is strong.
We here at Honeycomb Author Services can also help improve your writing and give you feedback. Our developmental editing will help you catch the ways you can strengthen your overall story, including specific sections like your novel’s climax. We also offer consultation calls if you just want to chat online and brainstorm with one of our editors. All of us enjoy interacting with you and hearing about your writing, so reach out!
Till then, bee brilliant!
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