- Joined
- Apr 17, 2005
- Messages
- 4,827
- Reaction score
- 336
- Location
- Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- Website
- home.comcast.net
No not the sexual kind. I think a climax can be defined as a dramatic event that resolves all or most of the conflict of the story in one fell swoop. It changes conflict into a lack of conflict, and the reader's suspense into satisfaction, causing the reader not to be upset that the story is ending. So all climactic events are transformative in one way or another.
The simplest type of transformation is destruction. Most commonly a villain dies, which destroys both the villain's motivation to cause conflict and his/her ability to cause conflict. The hero(es) may die, destroying their desire and ability to fight back. The world or some part of it may die, eliminating conflict by giving it no place to occur. A foozle, spell, weapon, hostage, treasure, or other object may be destroyed, eliminating the issue the sides were fighting over.
There are also more complex, less drastic transformations. Humans may be transformed into non-humans, the urge to struggle may be transformed into the urge to cooperate, the ability to struggle may be transformed into an inability to struggle.
A constructive climax is also a possibility - instead of the conflict being resolved by ending something, it can be resolved by starting something new.
The cause of conflict in a story can also be thought of as a problem, in which case the climax would naturally be the solution of the problem. Revealing the solution to a mystery is a very common type of climactic event; in this case the transformation is the purely mental one from confusion to understanding. Also the puzzle might not be a question of "Whodunnit?" or "How was it done?", but "How can we do it?" In this case instead of an existing solution being discovered a new one is invented in a moment of epiphany.
Yet another type of climactic event is the change of ownership/alliance. The hero may acquire the treasure they were seeking: a foozle, a territory, a power, someone's heart. They could pass a burden they have been carrying on to someone else. A couple may declare their love for each other, or be wed, or have a child. Someone may change philosophies or sides in a conflict. The sides which have been in conflict throughout the story may just agree to stop fighting.
A story's climax often consists of more than one of these events. In particular romance novels often have a separate plot climax and relationship climax, which may occur 50 or even 100 pages apart.
So, yeah, have I forgotten any types of climaxes? Do you have more to add about any particular type of climax?
The simplest type of transformation is destruction. Most commonly a villain dies, which destroys both the villain's motivation to cause conflict and his/her ability to cause conflict. The hero(es) may die, destroying their desire and ability to fight back. The world or some part of it may die, eliminating conflict by giving it no place to occur. A foozle, spell, weapon, hostage, treasure, or other object may be destroyed, eliminating the issue the sides were fighting over.
There are also more complex, less drastic transformations. Humans may be transformed into non-humans, the urge to struggle may be transformed into the urge to cooperate, the ability to struggle may be transformed into an inability to struggle.
A constructive climax is also a possibility - instead of the conflict being resolved by ending something, it can be resolved by starting something new.
The cause of conflict in a story can also be thought of as a problem, in which case the climax would naturally be the solution of the problem. Revealing the solution to a mystery is a very common type of climactic event; in this case the transformation is the purely mental one from confusion to understanding. Also the puzzle might not be a question of "Whodunnit?" or "How was it done?", but "How can we do it?" In this case instead of an existing solution being discovered a new one is invented in a moment of epiphany.
Yet another type of climactic event is the change of ownership/alliance. The hero may acquire the treasure they were seeking: a foozle, a territory, a power, someone's heart. They could pass a burden they have been carrying on to someone else. A couple may declare their love for each other, or be wed, or have a child. Someone may change philosophies or sides in a conflict. The sides which have been in conflict throughout the story may just agree to stop fighting.
A story's climax often consists of more than one of these events. In particular romance novels often have a separate plot climax and relationship climax, which may occur 50 or even 100 pages apart.
So, yeah, have I forgotten any types of climaxes? Do you have more to add about any particular type of climax?
