This is the post about different types of climaxes that I mentioned last week. It’s closely related to reverse planning—or any kind of story planning, really—because how you plan or outline a story (if you work that way) depends a lot on what kind of climax you have got hold of (or are aiming for).
People break down story climaxes and/or endings in various ways. I prefer this version (if you don’t find it useful, google “types of climax in fiction” and pick something different):
- Climax of Action or Crisis
- Climax of Decision
- Climax of Discovery
- Climax of Revelation
- Climax of Realization
“How did the protagonist get into this mess?” has a different sort of answer, depending on what sort of climax you’re looking at.
A climax of revelation means the question is about the steps the protagonist took that led to the revelation of the secret. In a murder-mystery, this is pretty obvious, because as soon as the murder happens, it’s clear that somebody did it, and the rest of the story is about the protagonist patiently trying to uncover the secret. But whodunnit is not the only possible secret that can be revealed as a story climax, and the secret need not be something the protagonist knows exists and is searching for.
For instance, a character’s true parentage is the climax of revelation in at least three stories that I can think of without trying. In one, the protagonist knows she is adopted and is indeed trying to uncover the secret; in the other two, the protagonists do not know there is anything questionable about their births, and are not trying to uncover the secret, but when the truth is finally revealed, it makes a massive difference to the main character (in one case, emotionally; in the other, both emotionally and in their life circumstances).
For a climax of discovery, answering the “How did the protagonist get to this point?” question starts with “Is this discovery accidental or on purpose?” and “What problem is the discovery solving for the protagonist?” The protagonist’s discovery of Atlantis obviously works for a story about looking for Atlantis, but if the central story problem revolves around the protagonist’s romantic relationships, the discovery probably isn’t the main climax. Other useful questions include “Why did the protagonist set out to discover this thing?” and “What obstacles did they overcome to succeed?” Stories about researchers trying to get funding and overcome political opposition to whatever discovery they hope to make can be as much climax-of-discovery as stories about the Polynesian discovery of Hawai’i, the invention of the airplane, or the first expedition to an alien planet.
A climax of realization is subtly different from a climax of revelation. Revelation involves revealing a secret; realization involves understanding something clearly that the character probably should have known all along. It’s therefore a common Man Learns Lesson climax. The working-backward questions revolve around what the steps were that led the protagonist to change their mind, what idiotic things they did to cling to denial, and/or why the protagonist was so determined not to admit they were wrong. This kind of climax is sometimes used when a whole group of people are wrongheaded about something, and it is the protagonist’s passionate speech (or self-sacrifice) that leads the group to realize they are wrong, but the questions about what steps led to the final trigger, why they didn’t want to admit their mistake, and how/why the group made this mistake in the first place are still the same.
In a climax of decision, the protagonist usually faces a difficult decision that involves moral judgement or a life-changing either-or choice. Working backwards means looking at what keeps the protagonist teetering on the edge, if the choice has been clearly getting closer since the start of the story (e.g., go to law school, or apprentice with a doll-maker?). It shows up in thrillers a lot, when the protagonist knows they may have to choose between rescuing the hostages or keeping the bomb from going off and killing the folks in the restaurant. If the choice is suddenly presented at the climax, the author needs to pick the scenes/steps that will make the choice hard when it arrives
And finally, there is the climax of crisis, commonly known as the action climax. The “How did these people get into this mess?” question usually works best for this one, as the “mess” in an action climax has been building for the entire story so far, usually on the action level. People have been hurt, kidnapped, killed, or otherwise messed with, to a greater and greater degree as the story progresses. If one is planning forwards, it’s a question of upping the ante as the story progresses; if planning in reverse, it’s ratcheting the action and the degree of threat down with each additional scene or plot point.
As I said last week, multiple kinds of climax often happen in the same “final climax” scene. Luke Skywalker’s duel with Darth Vader at the end of The Empire Strikes Back is obviously an action climax, but it includes a revelation climax (“I am your father”) and a decision climax (will Luke join Vader or not). This means that there are three plotlines getting wound up here, and an author working backwards needs to 1) determine which of these is the main climax, the one that means the story is over (at least for now) and 2) work out how each of the secondary climaxes makes the scene more dramatic and/or supports the main climax.
And this one goes into my future reference file. Thanks for the nuts and bolts article. Very helpful!
I note that Revelation and Realization generally have to work out some of the implications for the characters. A mystery does not actually end with the knowledge of whodunnit, but generally with a confrontation with the murderer (even in a drawing room). And when not, there’s generally a discussion of what to do. (Whether to let the murderer off, for instance.)
Well, don’t most stories regardless of climax type have a denouement? Stories that end at the climax seem to be very particular and relatively uncommon use cases.
But I still plot from the climax not the denouement, tbh.
Denouement is when the other people work out what they will do with the knowledge, after the first impact.
Denouement is just aftermath. Doesn’t matter which characters appear. You can certainly include main character figuring final things out as part of the climax, but it’s usually in the denouement.
Though now that I reread your comment, yes, the example of confrontation / judgment of a murderer is climactic material. I don’t read murder mysteries as a rule, so as a rule revelation climaxes I’ve actually read (mostly sff, some literary, sone romance, and misc.) have all the emotional and character and “impact” wrapup for the mains post-climax, though they may have an action climax simultaneous, which analogs to your point.