I’m writing this post about that staple of fiction writing, the climax – when the most exciting, most important event in a story happens.
(No, this isn’t one of those how-to sexual technique posts. But you wouldn’t have expected that here, would you?)
Is your writing dull and uninspiring? Not getting traffic? Maybe it just needs a standard fiction technique to spice it up a bit.
TV shows, novels, plays and movies use scenes, dilemmas, and conflicts as ways to build excitement, tension and anticipation about how a story will end. The climax occurs in a scene when the central conflict or dilemma of a story comes to a head, something happens and there’s a resolution of some kind, like:
- Luke Skywalker destroys the Death Star
- Richard Gere’s character proposes to or marries Julia Robert’s character
- The soldiers finally do save Private Ryan
Here are some suggestions on how you can emulate this technique in your writing (this can include article writing, blogging, etc.):
- Start with a mystery, a question, or a controversial idea and construct a way to tell a story that addresses this topic.
- Gradually reveal clues or facts that either support or detract from the idea. Think of this like presenting a series of scenes (or paragraphs) that describe the concept in more detail. Take the reader on a journey from point A to point Z and all points inbetween.
- Work up to a revelation, including one or more surprises. We all love twists and turns in fiction!
- Make the revelation colorful and exciting. Sometimes predictable revelations are perfectly fine; other times something unexpected is really appropriate.
- Provide food for thought to your reader at the end: did they learn anything? Are they motivated to think or act differently?
Non-fiction doesn’t have to be boring. Borrow some literary techniques and you might be surprised at how your content comes to life!
