Climax of a Story: Definition, Examples, and Writing Tips

Climax of a Story: Definition, Examples, and Writing Tips

How do you tell a great story? Perhaps the best way to judge a story is by how good the climax is.

If your story isn’t good, the climax will be muddled or boring. A good story, though, will bring together all the tension that has been building since the exposition into one perfect scene that overwhelms the audience and leaves them in awe.

What is the climax, though? And how do you write a good one?

How to Write a Transformation Story

How to Write a Transformation Story

One of the foremost reasons people read is to experience a character’s arc of change, their transformation, in other words, and transformation stories are among the most powerful and popular in literature and film.

That’s because the human experience is all about change. Each of us is a work in progress—growing, changing our perceptions and how we think—shaping our character.

These stories involve the reader in the course of the character’s change, helping them explore their own potential and desire for transformation, along with the limitations, possibilities, and price attached.

How Characters Change in Stories (And How to Write Believable Change)

How Characters Change in Stories (And How to Write Believable Change)

You’ve probably heard this one before: Your character must change throughout the course of your story. Characters need to transform.

I see a lot of confusion over this concept. Writers can normally nail the change (weak to strong; bad to good; cynical to optimistic) but it often comes from a weird place that doesn’t sit quite right with what we know about the protagonist. Or it’s too big of a change (or too much of a “fairy tale ending”) to be believable.

Writers think that great characters need drastic changes, but this isn’t always the case. 

Let’s take a look at how writers should deal with character change, and how creating a character arc might make for a more interesting cast and plot.