Building Stories: Climax & Reflection
Part 5 of 5
The build so far…
• Climax & Reflection (Today's topic)
Welcome to the fifth and final installment of the Building Stories series. Each article in this series builds on the last. If you are new here, you can catch up with the links above.
Just like it’s subject matter, this installment of the series has been the hardest for me to write, in any satisfactory way. But that’s not going to stop me from trying.
Climax & Reflections
The part we’ve all bean waiting for! The culmination of every choice, every character arc, plot point and goal. With enough planning, or editing, or most likely both, this is the moment our readers will finally have their questions answered, their wants satiated, or depending on the story, their hearts torn out. In my opinion endings are the hardest part to get write. I find this in my own writing, and really across the board in a lot of media. I can’t count the number of times a fantastic tale has been ruined by a bad, lackluster, or disappointing ending.
“Endings are hard. Any chapped-ass monkey with a keyboard can poop out a beginning, but endings are impossible. You try to tie up every loose end, but you never can. The fans are always gonna b***h. There's always gonna be holes. And since it's the ending, it's all supposed to add up to something. I'm telling you, they're a raging pain in the ass.”
— Chuck Shurley, Supernatural: Swan Song
I’ve always felt this quote really incapsulated the writer’s struggle with endings. But because the statement is so true it makes good endings very impressive. Once again, sorry to sound like a broken record, the climax of a story is going to be heavily influenced by its genre and how the author wants to leave the reader feeling. Somethings will just always apply depending on your genre, whether it’s a crime thriller, or a contemporary romance.
What is a climax?
The climax of a story (if we’ve done our jobs correctly) is the moment or scene when the external factors and events have been pushed to their highest stakes. And play-out in tandem with our characters internal journey, so they may overcome those factors.
The more complex your story, the number of characters you have and the number of “moving parts” you have will all effect how difficult it is to write a satisfying conclusion. But hopefully this is where all your previous hard work starts to pay off .
Remember five posts ago, when we contemplated what the premise of the story was and tried to hone that in? Then, four posts ago we focused on the characters, the who, what, why, and where of the main protagonists. Followed shortly there after by the dive into who or what our protagonist is facing, the antagonists and their own motivations standing in the way of the protagonist reaching their goal.
Having these things fleshed out should give you a solid guide on where or what your final climax should be, as well as the other elements we covered, theme and tone.
Example: Crime thriller. This would be the big scene where the investigator is put into a life threatening position in order to apprehend the antagonist/killer.
Example: Contemporary romance. This would be the moment the protagonist rushes to the airport or interrupts a wedding in order to proclaim their love is stronger than whatever adversity came before.
The Pay Off
Whether you have set up your story for a happy, sad, or ambiguous ending we hope to leave the reader (or at least a majority of readers) satisfied by the end. Whatever feelings you hope to evoke with the story there should always be some satisfaction layered in there. We want readers to feel their time was well spent, that way they actually want to pick up our next story.
Here are some things to ask ourselves and keep in mind as we develop the climax of our stories.
What was the premise of the story? Did we deliver on that idea?
Have we prepared our protagonist to face this final obstacle?
Does the outcome of this ending feel appropriately deserved?
Have we pushed the stakes as high as they can be?
What great sacrifice is our protagonist making to overcome and win? Or lose.
Have all of our plot threads been tied off or explained? Including, secondary and tertiary ones?
Have I done everything I can to have the reader emotionally invested in this outcome?
Obviously, I am coming at these questions from an analytical mind set. But I have an analytical mind when it comes to development, so that is what I have to offer. These are just jumping off points, there will of course be layers of things to work in, emotion, conflict, sacrifice, hope, and so much more.
Conclusion
There is no easy step-by-step of how to construct a perfect ending. There are just too many factors. Every story is different and will call for different things, isn’t that the great part? Only you can pick the right ending for your story, it’s yours after all.
I hope through this condensed series the past installments have helped with determining some of the building blocks for a great story. And with those blocks I hope you find your way to a story climax that is epic in its satisfaction.
Thank you for taking the time to make this little series a part of your day. If you’ve found it helpful at all please consider sharing it. I remember all to well what it was like to not know where to start and I hope this will help others along their creative journey.
