Welcome back to Story Structure. We’re still using our story we’re creating with Oliver and Sophia; and we’ve come to the beginning of Act 3, which includes the climax, falling action, and resolution. Let’s talk about the climax of the story.

The climax is the moment of greatest emotional intensity, conflict, or suspense in the story. It’s a pivotal point where the main conflict reaches its peak that not only captivates the reader’s attention but also marks a significant turning point for the characters, leading to a resolution of the central conflict.

The climax is crucial because it delivers the promise of the story’s premise, offering a payoff for the reader’s investment. It’s where the protagonist faces her greatest challenge, makes a critical decision, or undergoes a significant transformation. The outcome of the climax has consequences that leads to the resolution of the story.

For example, in most of my romantic suspense stories, either the hero or the heroine is seemingly bested by the villain. There’s a confrontation where we finally have the resolution of the mystery and usually the moment of truth in a character’s emotional journey (what the internal conflict is all about). This is the essence of the climax. This is a culmination of a story’s narrative arc that leaves a lasting impact on the characters and the readers too.

Let’s look at some climaxes in two of the most well-known classics:

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: In this story of the Jazz Age, the climax unfolds at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Here, Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan engage in a fierce battle over Daisy’s affections. Gatsby’s dreams clash with reality, leading to the unraveling of his carefully constructed world. The tension between the characters reaches its peak, precipitating the tragic events that follow, marking a turning point and sealing Gatsby’s fate.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: The climax of this tale set in early 19th-century England occurs when Elizabeth Bennet receives Mr. Darcy’s letter after his unexpected proposal. This letter reveals Darcy’s true character and his involvement in the separation of her sister Jane and Mr. Bingley, as well as the truth about Mr. Wickham. This revelation is the moment of greatest emotional intensity for Elizabeth, leading her to reevaluate her judgments and feelings towards Darcy. It sets the stage for the transformation of their relationship and the resolution of the novel’s central conflicts.

So, where are we now in our story with Oliver and Sophia? To catch you up, Sophia’s father is in the hospital after suffering a massive heart attack. Sophia has just learned she’s adopted and her parents didn’t go through legal channels to get her.

I left you with these questions last time:

• WHAT does this have to do with her sister?
• And why did her parents DO that?
• Why not go through LEGAL channels to adopt her?
• What in the world is going on?

This is where the climax comes in. Her father, thinking he’s going to die, tells Sophia that she deserves the truth. Years ago, when he and her mother were trying for a family, the sheriff (now mayor in our story) at the time had come across a young girl who’d reportedly died in childbirth. The baby was Sophia. The sheriff knew how badly Sophia’s parents wanted another child and gave the baby to them but swore them to secrecy. Against their better judgement, they agreed.

They crafted a simple story. Sophia was the child of Sophia’s mother’s sister who couldn’t take care of the baby. It was well-known the woman was in and out of rehab so no one would question the new addition to the household. Only Sophia’s parents and the then sheriff (now mayor) knew the truth.

Sophia and Cassidy grew up hearing about the missing girls, the whispers of how they disappeared in the night. Darkness was to be feared. Later, when she was an older teen, Cassidy, Sophia’s older sister, had stumbled across evidence of a human trafficking ring involving the mayor.

At a party one night with the mayor’s daughter, Cassidy finds a hidden compartment in the desk in his home office. There’s a ledger containing names, dates, and payments, along with photographs of missing persons, some of whom she recognizes from news reports. Shocked and scared, she takes evidence with her and gives it to her father.

Someone tries to kill her that night and they manage to steal the evidence back. Now, she’s got no proof of what’s going on. With the help of her parents, she disappears. They make it sound like she’s run away and they don’t know where she is. All these years later, her father has been working hard to get evidence on the mayor, but the man is super careful, and he simply doesn’t have anything that will stick. And then there’s the problem that if the mayor goes down, so does he and his wife for the whole illegal adoption thing.

But what he doesn’t know is Sophia is following the man and searching for evidence. Her sister is alive out there, someone running and looking over her shoulder. It’s time for her to come home. Sophia breaks into his home in an attempt to steal the laptop and comes face to face with the mayor and his gun.

What about you? What is the climax of your story? Tune in next time to find out what happens and how to incorporate the falling action and resolution. So, two more posts to come after this one in the Story Structure series, then we will move on to incorporating subplots and secondary characters.