John Matthew Fox helps authors write better fiction. He is the founder of Bookfox, where he creates online courses for writers, provides editing and offers publishing assistance. He is the author of "The Linchpin Writer: Crafting Your Novel's Key Moments" and “I Will Shout Your Name,” a collection of short stories.
Writers, are you sure about your Climax?
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Hi Bookfoxers, You probably think of the climax as fitting into a certain slot in your story. Let me guess -- you think it's 9/10ths of the way through the story, right before the end. That's because Hollywood has conditioned you into embracing a singular shape of storytelling, where they have the climax at the same place nearly all the time. That's not wrong. But it's certainly not the only place where your climax can occur. Today we're going to look at alternative placements for your climax, because the placement of your climax determines the entire shape of your story. In Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, the climactic murder of the old lady happens in Chapter 7 (and there are 39 chapters in the book). The murder is definitely a climactic moment. How does Dostoevsky make it work so early in the book? Well, because the story is really about guilt and wrestling with the internal demons after the murder, and one could argue that a secondary climax is when he turns himself in toward the end of the book. In Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club, we start at the climax -- Tyler Durden is sticking a gun inside the narrator's mouth, and they're standing in a building where bombs made of soap-based nitroglycerin are set to go off in a few minutes. Then we backpedal through time to tell the whole story leading up to that point. So really, this is a flashforward, but the climax's placement at the beginning does shape the rest of the story. In Romeo and Juliet, the climax is definitely in the middle. This is when Tybalt kills Mercutio, and then Romeo kills Tybalt. Those murders are the most dramatic action of the book, and signal the place-of-no-return. Yes, the Romeo/Juliet suicides at the end seem climactic, but they are the resolution to the activities set in motion by the Mercutio/Tybalt murders. Next, I'd like to talk about having multiple climaxes, but before we do that, here's a word from our sponsor. Sponsored by Lulu How to publish your book for free (and keep more profit)Looking to publish your own book? Check out Lulu, the world’s premier online self-publishing platform. Lulu helps you turn your manuscript into a professional-quality hardcover, paperback, and ebook. Lulu also offers a range of marketing and distribution services, from online retailers like Amazon to global distributors like Ingram and Baker & Taylor. Plus, with Lulu Direct, you can sell your books directly from your website and get paid immediately (while keeping more profit). So why wait? Join the millions of satisfied authors who have already published with Lulu and take your writing career to the next level today! It's a mistake to think of the climax as singular -- you can certainly have MULTIPLE climaxes in your book. In Cormac McCarthy's second book in his border trilogy, "The Crossing," there are three climaxes:
That's because the book has a tryptic structure, and each storyline gets its own climax. George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones series is another example of a story with multiple climaxes. With Game of Thrones, there are multiple climaxes because he has so many storylines, and each one has it's own climax. It's usually best to space out these climaxes, rather than having all the storylines converge in a firestorm of multiple climaxes all at the end. Best, John Matthew Fox PS. Will you hit reply and tell me what you're currently writing? I'd love to hear from you. |
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John Matthew Fox helps authors write better fiction. He is the founder of Bookfox, where he creates online courses for writers, provides editing and offers publishing assistance. He is the author of "The Linchpin Writer: Crafting Your Novel's Key Moments" and “I Will Shout Your Name,” a collection of short stories.
Hi Bookfoxers, Today we're answering this reader question: I am writing a fictionalized version of my maternal grandmother's life in her voice, based on dramatic stories my grandmother told me over the years. I am embellishing some of the stories, and keeping them intact in others. But at this point, they seem like vignettes that I'm not sure how to tie them together. I keep thinking I need, "a clothesline to hang them on". I've thought of interjecting myself, using my memories to tie them...
Hi Bookfoxers, I'm continuing to answer readers' questions, this time from someone who will stay anonymous, in case their neighbor reads this newsletter as well: Despite holding an MFA from a prestigious university and a recent acceptance for traditional publication for my second novel, I still have what is referred to as "imposter syndrome." I knew it was present, perhaps beneath the surface, but what drove it home was when a neighbor asked me to review his manuscript. He planned on...
Hi Bookfoxers, I've started to answer questions from readers in this newsletter, and this one comes from Brenna Labine: Any advice on toeing the line between too much visual description and the right amount of scene/character description? Great question, Brenna! Your question is really a question of pacing -- how can writers keep the reader's interest while simultaneously fully fleshing out the world of the book? If you don't give enough description, the reader won't be immersed. While if you...