Jessica Strong

Monday, October the eighth - Plot: Climax

Oct. 08: - Plot: Climax (Where is the story going?) ▼

Where is your story going? Describe the climax, the point at which everything changes and the tension of the primary conflict is finally resolved. Use the "What If" brainstorming exercise to create a list of possibilities, remembering to consider the growth of / change in your main character(s) as a result of this event. The climax can be as hidden and seemingly tiny as that moment when your character finally makes that decision they've been dreading or avoiding for fifteen chapters, or it can be as huge and obvious as an exploding planet. Sometimes, the climax is a little hard to pin down. Was it the moment Ender won his game? Or was it the moment he realized the moving images on his screen were not a simulation, not the game he thought it was, and that he had just personally wiped out an entire alien race?

I don’t need to do a “What If” list for this novel. That’s because I already know how this novel is going to end, but I’m not going to mention what that ending is right now. I’m just telling you now there is a definite ending to yet. It’s also a beginning too. What I mean by that is that Jessica thinks that she has ended this novel, but she hasn’t. I know it sounds a little bit confusing, and it is, but that’s part of the charm of this novel. The three Outline might give you a clue to how it ends if you haven’t figured it out already, but the only real way to know how it ends is to read the novel.