The Climax

Climax? Hell I'm only 13k off the ground and rocks are slipping.

I don't know. The climax usually flies off my fingers. It's the first 3 chapters that I struggle with.

Yes, I feel your pain. Actually, it's not quite the climax, but I just wrote my last chapter (I still have to write the second-last one, so it's not all over yet), and finding the last words for the novel was pretty terrifying. The last few chapters have been really hard to write in comparison to the rest of the novel.

I'm always worried that my climax is overwrought. Too emotional, too full of action, too much sturm und drang.

I tend to rush them, so I always have to force myself to slow down and let them play out.

I'm working on the climax now. Wait, let's say I'm working on starting the climax now. Or soon. I will be.

Yeah, it's like that... semi-avoidance mode. Thing is, I'm deathly afraid that the plot twists leading up to the big climax are TOO twisty. They reveal another dimension to the story that is somewhat fantastic (subtle, but introducing/implying the fantastic). That expansion has to fit into the rising conflict.. it's dependent on it.

The story works for me, no doubts there. It may be that I'm paying too much attention to what I "think" others may think. So how much of my quandry is based on inexperience and how much is due to recognition of a real problem.. I dunno.

That will be for the beta readers to sort out, I suppose. Hard driving on, though, when that's on my mind.

Yes, I think the biggest mistake you can make is rushing the climax. I remember Eliot's "This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper," and that scares me into taking my time and building, building, building to the big moment.

I find that Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are very good at stretching their climaxes out over the last third of the book, with incident toppling onto incident until the big explosion finally comes. Of course, with quieter books the climax won't actually explode. It might instead implode, into astonishing intensity.

First drafts may get down only the skeleton of the climax. That's fine -- don't let yourself freeze up with performance anxiety. Get it down, however sketchily, then revise and rewrite, adding muscle and silky pelt until you have a sleek beast of a pay-off.

Oh geez, yes. I am nearing the climax in my wip at the moment, and it's starting to go downhill. I feel your pain also. Still, the climax isn't as hard as the ending in my opinion.

Good Lord, yes. When I started my WIP, I was writing 7,000 words a day and tapered off to about 3,000 over time. When I started approaching the climax, I was seized by unearthly jaws of terror and could barely muster 1,000.

I just finished writing it an hour ago, and I only like about half of it. There will be some serious tearing out of the carpet and walls and the addition of a lot of support beams when it comes time to revise. But that's okay, because at least it's done, right?

Of course, now I have to write the ending itself. But after trying to culminate everything that came before, that should be a walk in the park. No heavy expectations--just a pretty little book-end.

Michael Parks said:

I'm working on the climax now. Wait, let's say I'm working on starting the climax now. Or soon. I will be.

Yeah, it's like that... semi-avoidance mode. Thing is, I'm deathly afraid that the plot twists leading up to the big climax are TOO twisty. They reveal another dimension to the story that is somewhat fantastic (subtle, but introducing/implying the fantastic). That expansion has to fit into the rising conflict.. it's dependent on it.

The story works for me, no doubts there. It may be that I'm paying too much attention to what I "think" others may think. So how much of my quandry is based on inexperience and how much is due to recognition of a real problem.. I dunno.

That will be for the beta readers to sort out, I suppose. Hard driving on, though, when that's on my mind.

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To me, one of the hardest obstacles to overcome when writing is the analytical conscious. If you can pound that sucker into submission, the rest is smooth sailing (so to cliche).

TrickyFiction said:

Anyone else feel the pressure of the almighty plot climax? I'm writing mine right now, and I guess I'm paranoid it will fall flat. I don't want to write one of those stories that builds and builds and builds, then fizzles out at the end. I mean, I think it's exciting. It was exciting to me when I imagined it, but what if it really isn't exciting, or what if it is and I just have a talent for making exciting things sound boring on paper?

Have any of you felt all crumbly while writing your story's climax?

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Oh yes! Definitely! Only with me it's not so much the fear that the climax will be boring as that I won't write it properly so it'll come across as cheesy or something. I notice that with every dramatic death scene and such in my work, it's dramatic to me, but I always fear that I will write it in such a way that any readers will roll their eyes or laugh at the corniness of it. It's the same way with the climax. My stories are VERY long so there's plenty of buildup; what if the final punch doesn't deliver? Or worse yet what if it's goofy when it's supposed to be dead serious? UGH UGH UGH.

The climax isn't the hardest part of the writing for me, not by a long shot, but it's one of the hardest parts to pull off properly. Or maybe I just worry too much. Probably the latter.

I'm approaching the climax of the novel in my signature (Well 20,000 words away, but still pretty close), and, at this stage I have gotten to the point where I've revised so many details that the old climax will have to be quite different.

I'm worry about how much development I've put up, and how much I need to do between now and the climax.

My two final worries about my WIP is that my beginning, while interesting, doesn't show enough actual plot or definitive direction during the 1st 30 pages. I already know I can get people to read through it and find it interesting and engaging, but considering they sing praises when they get to the part right after that, now I'm not sure.

Second issue is my ending--the climax gave me trouble writing it the first time too. I wrote it twice, both different varriations on the general idea I had for the end, and I planned a third ending to write as well, before I decided that the second one I wrote worked. The climax is, though interesting to me, also very fast. I think I actually have two, since the resolution to the main climax (which ends with my MC seemingly dying--he thinks he is, and he almost does), lead to another climax which was more definitive for my character. Part of the issue was the almost dying thing. It does make sense, the way I set it up, but I'm not sure the strings holding it up are conclusive enough, thick enough for the normative reader. I did go back and forshadow the elements that seemed like they'd most throw readers off, but I'm always questioning, "what if it's not good enough?" In all honesty, it probably is, discounting other potential nags I have about things, but I had that feeling over both the climax and the major twist in the middle.

But, I wouldn't have been able to do anything with it if I hadn't just written something. The first drafts didn't always make inherent sense (though it made sense to me), though they weren't horrible all around, but after spending time on them it got better.

I think it's like, you gotta just write it. For me personally, I'll end up forcing something out, then if I don't like it, writing another, then if it still doesn't look like something that's a nice fix, do it again.

I love writing two parts of the story more than anything else: Beginnings and climaxes. The only thing I struggle with in these sections is getting the words down quickly enough. It's everything in the middle that I struggle with. Here's some hope, though: If you get excited around that part of the book it's probably a good indication that you're on to something the reader will find exciting as well. Also, if it doesn't work out and you think it sucks, you can always rewrite it later. That's what I tell myself about middles. I think it applies to climaxes equally well.

Anyone else noticed that this thread is full of innuendo?

vixey said:

The climax usually flies off my fingers.

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I hope we're not seeing another Multiple Miggs/Clarice Starling situation here.

Redzilla said:

I'm always worried that my climax is overwrought. Too emotional, too full of action, too much sturm und drang.

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Just relax. Don't make so much noise.

Danthia said:

I tend to rush them, so I always have to force myself to slow down and let them play out.

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Patience is a virtue.

Michael Parks said:

I'm working on the climax now. Wait, let's say I'm working on starting the climax now. Or soon. I will be.

OK. TOO much information.

Phaeal said:

Yes, I think the biggest mistake you can make is rushing the climax

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I've heard that before!

Boom boom, thankyou, i'm here all week!!!

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I'd watch you if you were on tv....and nothing else was worth watching!

As for writing the climax, I'll let you know how it was for me when I get there.

My biggest problems with most climaxes (in books I read) is that many seem so forced and unbelievable. I often end up thinking to myself 'no one would ever do that in real life' or 'there is no way that plan could work'.

So I've been spending a lot of time on my climax making sure that people are consistent and realistic. And I also have the 'plan' fall to pieces. Well, not completely, but things definitely don't end up the way the characters meant it to. Hopefully it will be both realistic, yet fulfilling enough to satisfy readers. (Keep your fingers crossed.)

Oy, I feel your pain, too. My last climax in a novel-length work was so contrived and overwrought I fear it didn't come off quite as well as I'd been hoping. Fortunately, though, that was only the "action" climax. I think the "emotional" climaxes worked a little better. But then, I've always sucked at writing action compared to the subtle nuance of drama, so it might have just been that--I work much better the less plot I have

My short story climaxes generally work out well, and I absolutely love writing them compared to the rest of the story. They truly are a payoff for me, but my last novel, I made the end a bit difficult for myself--hopefully my next attempt will be better. (Oh well, always improvement...my very first attempt at novel writing, I wrote myself into such a corner I couldn't even write the last chapter...it would never live up to the build-up...it's still lingering somewhere on my hard drive, climax-less.)

Yes, the beginning was rough. The middle was hard. And the end was a bear. Lol.

I found the climax and the ending relatively easy. It was the middle sections where there are hidden pointers and build-up to the climax that I found more difficult to write well, so that the climax had such an impact. When the reader reaches what he/she thinks is the conclusion though, they will find another few pages... and a surprise, last-minute twist. A bit of a left-over from my short story days.
It's a similar scanario with my Nano project. I have the set-up, main characters and ending. the middle? I am hoping for inspiration when I come to that

I am just coming up to the final editing of my WIP and I just love the climax! Everyone knows what's coming (LOL climax=coming and it's not even erotica!), but I think the way I'm ending it is very satisfying, both for my characters and my readers.

I'm afraid of when the moment will come.