How to Write the Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution of a Novel
HelloOoOo everybody!
We're here for episode eight of my course, How Writers Become Authors: A Step-by-Step Guide to Crafting Your Novel. We're finishing up our deep dive into Freytag’s Pyramid by covering the last three sections of the pyramid: the climax, falling action, and resolution.
“But Jenna, why are we covering three sections in one video?”
Because these three plot points always run straight into one another. In many genres, the climax is one or two chapters, and the falling action and resolution are the following chapter. That's two to three chapters in total, and in some less complicated genres, the climax, falling action, and resolution might all happen in the same chapter. So let's start where we left off.
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Step 1: Review
You just finished your rising action, which means you've probably written a dark night of the soul, or a light day of the body. Maybe the light morning of the body? Or whatever we decided to call the reverse of the dark night of the soul story beat. Let's write the climax.
Step 2: The Climax
The climax is a scene where your main character is forced to directly confront the conflict of the novel. Their actions or reactions will determine whether they vanquish their conflict, achieve their goal, or experience a staggering loss. It's very easy to mess up the climax, especially if you don't give it the power it deserves. Your entire book has revolved around this conflict or goal, so if it comes too easily or too quickly, readers are going to feel disappointed. Why did I read an entire book for everything to be settled in two pages? What was the point of this?
There are a few key points to keep in mind to ensure that your climax holds the gravity that readers expect.
Step 3: The Disadvantage
For starters, you either want to give your main character a disadvantage, the antagonist an advantage, or both. Remember, you want this conflict to be hard to resolve, and the easiest way to do that is to turn your main character into an underdog. For high-stakes novels, where the climax involves life-or-death stakes, you could send your main character into an arena without a weapon. On the flip side, you could give your villain two weapons, or you could do both—that’s what I did in The Savior's Champion. Many novels involving a band of misfits will have the main character go at the conflict alone, at least at the onset, because their allies are estranged or have deserted them. Or the villain has gained some staggering level of power that feels impossible to thwart.
Of course, not all stories have these types of stakes, but you can still create an underdog main character or an overpowered antagonist. Say your main character's goal is to simply win the heart of his beloved, and he goes into the climax, confessing his love and hoping she'll return the sentiment. He could go into the love confession after they've had a huge falling out, so he's in the doghouse. Or maybe her hot ex-boyfriend is in town, and he doesn't know how he'll be able to compete. These are obvious ways to make even lower-stakes novels feel tense and exciting during the climax.
Step 4: The “Almost”
Next, we have what I call “The Almost”, which is when your main character almost fails during the climax. If you look at very popular stories throughout the years, no matter the genre, you will notice a similarity between them. In the middle of the climax, the main character nearly fails to vanquish the bad guy or achieve their goal. In a rom-com, this is when the main character misses the last flight that would take them to see their love interest. In a fantasy adventure, this is when the bad guy has his wand pointed at the main character, and he's ready to cast his final deadly spell.
This is vital to a powerful climax. Readers respond to this method because it makes them feel as though the climax and the victory were earned. Readers prefer protagonists who work hard for what they desire, and this plot device leaves them feeling satisfied.
Of course, there are novels out there where the climax doesn't end in a win. It ends in a resounding failure. And in that case, you want to feature a different kind of “almost.” In these situations, we want to see the main character almost win. They almost strike peace between warring clans. They almost save the day. They almost get the girl. Bringing a reader to the brink of victory, only to swiftly take it away, will make the failure feel even more devastating. And if you're writing a tragic ending, that's exactly what you want.
Step 5: The New Destination
Lastly, bring your main character to an exciting destination. In my writing craft book, Shut Up and Write the Book, I refer to this as making your climax climactic. In my other writing craft book, How to Write Romantasy, I refer to this as writing an intimacy destination. No matter the genre, your climax needs to feature something new and exciting that we haven't seen in the book thus far. A great destination during a romance climax would be the first time the main characters say, “I love you,” or if they get engaged. If the characters haven’t done these things already, then readers are going to be super excited for it to happen. They will be cheering, and that's exactly what you want.
But if you're writing a more adventurous novel like sci-fi, action, adventure, or even horror, you might not be dealing with sweet nothings. In this case, the excitement we bring will involve upping whatever ante we've offered throughout the book. If you've written several battles, then the battle in the climax needs to be the biggest one thus far. If you're writing about a gruesome monster, then that monster needs to be at its most lethal during the climax. The idea is, take whatever madness you've offered throughout your novel and dial it up.
Step 6: The Falling Action
Now that we've written the climax, it's time to tackle the falling action, which is inarguably the shortest part of your novel. The average falling action takes up a couple of pages to maybe a whole chapter. If your falling action is two chapters or longer, you might be doing it wrong. The falling action is a short bit of the novel, where the dust of the climax settles, and remaining questions are answered. That's it.
The standard climax will reveal a lot of surprises that the readers and the characters might not be aware of, so they'll probably have questions. Come the falling action, you've got to address these questions and provide some answers. Why did the princess betray her father? Why did the lawyer lie to the judge? Are there any loose ends that haven't been addressed throughout the novel? You handle that in the falling action and then move on to the resolution.
Step 7: The Resolution
The resolution is when the conflict of your novel is resolved. If you're writing a standalone novel, that means most of the conflict should be put to rest. If you're writing a series, then you may be resolving the first step of a greater saga. There are different resolution rules for different genres, so it's your job to research your genre and figure out if it has any specific rules. Likewise, as I already mentioned, there are different rules for resolving a standalone novel versus a mid-series novel. A mid-series novel might very well end in a cliffhanger. But here are a few standard rules for writing a resolution across all genres.
The first is to establish the happily or unhappily ever after. If you're writing any kind of novel that ends in victory or joy, that needs to be established in the resolution. We need to see that the planet has officially been saved by alien intruders, and rebuilding can finally begin. We don't need to see the rebuilding in action, but readers need to be left with a feeling that everything is going to be okay.
On the flip side, if you're writing a story with an unhappy or tragic ending, that feeling of despair needs to be hammered home in the resolution. The most obvious example is axing the main character or someone pivotal to the plot that they care about. They can't live happily ever after if they're not living at all.
And lastly, the resolution is often used to show a change or development in the main character, either in a positive or negative way. The character doesn’t have to literally reflect on how much they've changed, although they can. Maybe. But it could be as simple as ending the book with the main character in a position that's the polar opposite of how the book began. If the book opens with the main character plowing the fields as a servant, the resolution could feature them sitting on a throne with a crown being placed upon their head. If the book opens with them in a packed party, happily laughing and smiling, then maybe the resolution shows them sitting in a prison cell and their laughter and smile are maniacal. This dichotomy will hammer home whatever arc you have planned for your character. The resolution is designed to show that a change has obviously occurred, and whether that's a good or bad change is up to you.
Step 8: Inventory
And just like with our falling action, use your resolution as a reminder to do an inventory for your story. That rhymes! “Inventory for your story.”
Are there any lingering subplots, character arcs, or elements of your main plot that haven't been addressed? Unless they're continuing on into the rest of your series, make sure they're put to rest by the end of the book.
So that's all I've got for you today!
So that's all I got for you today. Again, different genres have additional rules for the climax, falling action, and resolution of their books, so be sure to do your research. And if you need any extra help, I have a worksheet linked right here.
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