How To Write A Gripping Climax For Your Novel.
Deep Dive on Four-Act Story Structure Part 9 of 10
An Overview of Act IV- Climax to Resolution 75%-100%
The end of the dark night of the soul closes the Third Act in the Four-Act story structure. Our protagonist has just lost everything they cared about it. It was tragic. They wallowed as the realization that it was their fault crashed down on them. But with that realization came an epiphany of how to fix things the right way.
We are now in Act Four, what I like to call the Comeback, also known as the Climax or the Finale. It all means the same, and it’s all about building to the singular climactic moment readers have been waiting for. This moment answers the ultimate story question (some version of will they or won’t they succeed).
The climax is a series of connected scenes that take us to the last dramatic change in the novel.
This is the big moment where the protagonist and the antagonist (bad guy, bad situation, or bad internal flaw) go head-to-head. Someone wins, someone loses, and because of this, our character’s inner journey is completed. After that, there’s no more story to tell.
This is a big deal. It’s rubber meet the road time, and the story will live on in the reader’s mind as an epic success or a floppy failure based on this moment.
No pressure, right? Ha!
But it makes sense if you think about it. We’ve been reading and waiting to discover if what we think will happen is actually going to happen. Every ounce of our curiosity, anticipation, and tension will come to a head here.
Typically, the buildup to the climax begins with the breakthrough at the 80% mark and peaks at the dramatic moment of ultimate change at 90%.
It’s a climb to the highest moment of tension in the story, where readers are biting their nails and holding their breath.
And if you take them all the way there, you better satisfy them!
But how do we make sure our climax is satisfying?
Answer: We need an inevitable surprise, and it needs to feel impossible.
The reader must have been able to foresee the showdown coming. So, in a way, we want it to be predictable, but we don’t want it to be obvious. I know. It sounds like a no-win situation. But this is what makes story so cool! You can have your cake and eat it too!
You make the ending inevitable by showing the reader who the bad guy is at the inciting incident (or giving a darn good indication) and foreshadowing what will come to blows.
In the setup, you show the reader the flaws and emotional failings of the protagonist so they know that ultimately, there must be an internal reckoning.
In the middle of the story, you paint the picture of the internal change the character must face to achieve the end goal. And the last piece is when we see our character take the final step, embodying who they need to be to defeat the antagonist and get the story’s objective.
The key to a satisfying climax begins at the story’s start.
It’s all connected, and it’s got to be fair. Don’t pull any fast ones. No de ex machine!
Whatever you use to surprise the reader at the end must have been hinted at somewhere before. Foreshadowing mixed with progressive plot complications creates multiple options a writer can use to give a surprise ending.
It comes down to the reader saying this: “I know what needs to happen for them to get x, but I just don’t see how it’s possible.” If your reader says that, you’ve got them right where you want them.
The reader thinks it’s impossible because so much has happened they can’t see the tool the writer will use, and they are not thinking about it either.
Here’s an example from the Hunger Games, a story about a bunch of kids living in a corrupt world, pitted against each other to fight to the death so that those in power stay in power.
At the climactic moment, Katniss and Peta choose suicide by eating the deadly berries vs. trying to kill each other so one can be the victor. Their action would create a no-win situation for everyone and send a big middle finger message to the overlords. That is not acceptable to the villain. People cannot be allowed to make an unexpected choice in this world because it would lead to hope and revolt. So at the last second, it’s announced that Katniss and Peta are both winners.
The climactic moment was foreshadowed by Peta almost eating the berries in an earlier scene.
Katniss, an untrusting loner, is all about staying alive from the start, but at the climactic moment, she chooses to make the ultimate sacrifice and trust someone else to do the same.
For better or worse, the climactic moment closes your protagonist’s arc.
They either turned away from their false belief or embody it to the point of no return.
In a positive arc, we see a character who has gained an understanding of what they must do in the breakthrough actually do it. In a negative arc, we see characters cross the “no return of the soul” bridge as they take the last action to gain the story objective because they have no moral compass left to guide them.
Takeaways for the fourth act and climax of the Four-Act story structure:
The entire fourth act builds to the climactic moment that ends the story. The only thing left to write is the resolution.
The buildup starts around 80% and the climactic moment hits between 90-99%.
The protagonist and the antagonist force go head to head.
The protagonist takes the final dramatic step they need to end the story, which caps their character arc.
The ultimate story question is answered. An irreversible change has occurred, and the protagonist and possibly the world will never be the same.
It must satisfy the reader by being both expected and surprising.
To make it satisfying, you need to foreshadow the twist and know what type of internal change your character will make.
