This is the moment your readers have been waiting for: it’s the climax of your novel! No pressure. It’s just literally the peak of the story.
The good news is, like the rest of your storytelling techniques, there are a good few ways to break down what you’re doing and make it better. That’s what we’re here for, so let’s get started:
Create the Highest Levels of Tension
When you look at the plot graph, it’s obvious. The climax is the absolute peak of a novel. As such, it should have the highest stakes in the story as well. Readers want to suffer emotional whiplash from the hope to despair to triumph all captured in one scene.
But you’re going to have other conflicts that feel majorly important at the time earlier in your story as well. What you don’t want is to get stuck using a long list of descriptive language or bury your sentences in exclamation points just to make your climax feel bigger than the rest. Instead, use other techniques to build tension like the classic antagonist monologue.
Add an All Hope is Lost Moment
Okay, technically this should come before your actual climax, but it will set up your characters for the ultimate peak in their story. Characters are flawed beings—this is what makes them relatable to readers. And flawed characters make mistakes and fail.
Give your character the opportunity to face off against their antagonist or their own self-doubt and fail. Then, once they have failed, give them time to reflect and come to the conclusion that there is no way for them to finish their quest.
By plunging your characters into the lowest lows along their journey, you naturally create a high-stakes climax when they need those skills again. Not only that, it makes the celebration of their victory (or devastation of their loss in a tragedy) that much sweeter.
Make it Inescapable
Using a crucible effect in your story to make the situation unavoidable for your characters and force them toward the climax is a great way to keep readers motivated. Usually this comes as a result of a character’s decisions, but they can be tricked into a trap and have it be just as effective. Perhaps the tomb for the final battle seals itself once your character is inside, or else the consequences should the main character fail can simply be too high. Either way, they should have no choice but to move forward and see their journey to its end.
Bring Together Aspects of Every Conflict
When it comes down to it, the climax is the point in your novel where readers finally found out if the characters get what they want. Each obstacle they have overcome and every moment of anguish all leads to this point. If you’ve done your job, your readers will be screaming “I MUST KNOW!”
There are some conflicts that shouldn’t appear in your climax scene if necessary. Like you may be carrying one over if you’re writing a series, or the resolution of one subplot can create new stakes and kick off your third act nicely. But the more story arcs your climax resolves, the more powerful and meaningful it will feel for your characters.
Make the Solution Both Surprising and Inevitable
Yep. There’s not a ton more to say. Of course, the balance of this is complicated. The goal of having a solution at the climax of your climax of your novel comes from the need to both validate the reader’s experience of your story up until now but also entertain them by not giving them exactly what they expected.
Really, readers should have a sense of whether they’re reading a comedy or a tragedy that holds true. They know that the hero will win in the end. And they probably have an idea of how it’s going to happen. Ideally, you put that idea there for them to stay focused on, this way, when you give them the much more clever solution, they will be both fully satisfied and entertained by your novel.
Having a surprising but inevitable conclusion to the climax, however, is the hardest part of writing a novel. So, combining the powers of plotting and pantsing are a great way to get there. Or you can reimagine it while working with an editor if it falls short in your initial drafts. No matter what, this is the moment to really shine because climaxes are what readers are thinking about when writing reviews.
Use Elements of Comedy and Tragedy
You can take this literally and give your villain a great joke during their inevitable speech during the climax. It’s a great way to double down on tension. But when we’re suggesting using comedy and tragedy, we mean it in the Shakespearian sense.
When you’re working to bring pieces of every conflict in a novel, there are inevitably some conflicts that your character will win and others they will lose. Anything less would be disingenuous. So really lean into the bittersweet victories your main character experiences. It will mean that much more for them to have a happily ever after or a sequel where you take it up a notch.
In case you’re interested in learning more about how to write a better novel, this is the third part in our series. At this time, we have both Tips to Write a Better Exposition and Tips to Write a Better Rising Action for you to consider. And next month, we’ll be wrapping up with Tips to Write a Better Resolution. If you just can’t wait, however, feel free to reach out to our book coaching team, who can help you review your novel’s ending and rework it for as little as $50 per session.
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