The Point of No Return

     You've done it. You've reached the point in your story where everything changes, whether it be for better or worse. You're at the climax of your novel. 

    I've titled this post "The Point of No Return," which seems like a weird title when you're talking about events in a story, but that's what your climax should be. This is the most important part of your book: it's the part that changes your characters, changes the direction of your plot, speeds everything up and slows it all down at the same time. It's the moment where everything that's important comes out, everything begins to make sense, everything changes. It truly is the point of no return and there's no turning back now. 

    Generally, most people already have the climax planned before they even start outlining their story. Usually, it's this big moment that's stuck in your head that inspires the whole thing. Everything that happens leads up to and stems from this one, very important part. So how do we make sure it doesn't get glossed over?

    One suggestion is to write the event multiple times. Write it simplistically. Then write it in as much detail as you can. Summarize it. Explain every action down to the sweat the drips down your protagonists' face. Write it from other character's points of views. Write every single possible angle you can for this one specific scene. Once you've written it a dozen times, read all of them through and think about what are the best parts of each version. Do you like the way you wrote this specific character's death from this specific point of view, but you also like the way summarized the cataclysm of emotions because it emulates a feeling of shock? Combine them. Combine everything that you love about this scene until you get a jumbled up, senseless draft. 

    Now you may be asking: what the heck am I gonna do with this if it doesn't make sense? Now you rewrite it again from you main character's point of view so that it makes sense. That parts that they're experiencing, you flesh them out. The parts other characters are experiencing, have your protagonist react to that. Take every moment from every angle and press them onto your character so that it becomes so overwhelmed that it perfectly encapsulates what you want this scene to be. 

    The key is to live in this moment. You readers need to be wowed by what they're reading, and if you put a lot of thought and effort into it, consider every possible angle and outcome, and force your character to come to these realizations, your readers will better appreciate your writing.