Insert all sexual innuendos here...

No but really, this is what you've been waiting for, what your readers have been waiting for, and the moment where you, the author, must make sure your book really shines.

This isn't to diminish any other part of a book - all parts are equally necessary for crafting a good story - but this is your make or break moment. This is where those 1 star reviews which go something like,

"SO DISAPPOINTING! All that build and for what?"

Or

"I saw that coming from a mile away!"

For those who have watched Law and Order SVU, you know the moment you see a well-known actor enter a scene, you immediately know they're the perpetrator.

Or even worse...

The Deus Ex Machina (god from the machine)
- the moment where every crazy thing that's been happening is explained by either a god (appropriate only for Mythology) or aliens or magic or something so completely ridiculous that you could tell the author wrote themselves into a corner and had no idea what the hell to do. - yeah sure it's aliens... didn't think you were reading a science-fiction story? Sorry.

Now that I've described what not to do...

WHAT MAKES FOR A GOOD CLIMAX?

A good Climax is:
- logical
- unexpected
- exciting
- cathartic

LOGICAL
A very basic definition of the Climax is the action which proceeds from the decision made in the crisis.

That's it...

However...

It is ALSO the logical conclusion of all previous progressive complications leading to it, building off of them like a river being fed by larger and larger tributaries.

Thus...

IT MUST MAKE SENSE!

UNEXPECTED
Whatever that first thought you had at what your climax should be, just go ahead write out 5-10 more ideas after it.

That first idea is exactly what your reader is going to assume will happen, and unlike the actor in the Law and Order SVU episode, it's exactly what you MUST NOT DO.

You want your climax to be unexpected, but on retrospect, to make total and complete sense. If you need to go back into the early parts of your story to add in those details which will make your final climax both unexpected and inevitable, please do so.

I'll wait.

Also I'm pretty sure J.K. Rowling kept a running list of all random items which came up in previous books so that she could use them to either create meaning, or get Harry out of a jamb, in the future books. Remember the shard from the mirror Sirius gave him in book 5, which was used in book 7 to get Harry out of the Malfloy's dungeon? I cannot believe she had that much of the later books plotted out before she wrote each one, and obviously she couldn't go back and add in things to an already published book.

But my point is, often we come up with the perfect solution to the problem later, and that's fine, that's what editing is for, so go back and write in that random plastic bag which is going to somehow become the weapon your MC is going to kill your antagonist with. It's perfectly acceptable not to know until you get there.

It is not acceptable to decide at the end it was all aliens and everyone can go fuck off if they don't like it.

EXCITING
The Climax is the peak of the rising action in the story. The author (you) should be building progressive tension in each progressive complication so that by the climax, your audience is in desperate need of a release.

You're at the tip of that roller coaster now, you can see the end coming and you know that stomach drop is coming as you roll over the other side. You know it... you've been building to it this whole time... yet it's still exciting when it happens.

Roller coasters also have the same arc as a story...😉

This action is going to be your falling action and the best part of the ride, so be sure to make it count. It should encompass big reveals, large action sequences, and is where many of your open threads and subplots will be tied up.

CATHARTIC
Catharsis is defined as "the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions."
It's also defined as such:

Catharsis is actually one of the main reasons we love books so much, and why we will go back and re-read our favorite books again and again. There is catharsis in the climax of a book that we, seeing ourselves mirrored in the main characters, psychologically live through them as they go through the imaginary motions of their heroic confrontations.

We are, in a sense, building a psychological blueprint for how we would respond to a similar situation in our lives. In this way, catharsis actually helps us release not only the stress built up from the tension in the book, but from the daily stresses in our lives. Often we don't have any good outlet for release of our daily stresses, so a good book can do wonders for our emotional and physical health.

If catharsis is not achieved in a novel then it falls flat. So whatever you do - be a generous author (and lover 😉) and give your reader that release they've been promised.

So, now that we understand what a good Climax is, how can we make sure we are creating one?

Well, thankfully there are certain scenes/elements required for a good Climax. These can change depending on genre, but there are requirements that never change:

THE PROTAGONIST CONFRONTS THEIR OWN FLAW

THE HERO AT THE MERCY OF THE VILLAIN

Whatever else happens, the Crisis and Climax must force the MC (or MCs) to confront first, their biggest internal flaw, and then the main antagonist directly. If they have won through their internal struggle then often they are ready to face the external one and triumph. Not always triumph, but in a hero's journey, this is where they win the day.

Let's take a look at a master climax builder shall we?

J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter Series

Let's look at what we know when, and how it builds to the final climax of the last book and the whole series.

Book 1
Beginning: we learn who the protagonist and the antagonist are in the prologue, though not mentioned by name- The Boy Who Lived and He Who Shall Not Be Named

We also learn Harry can talk to snakes.

Ending: Harry defeats Voldemort a second and we learn it's because his mother died to protect him - this is why the original killing curse didn't work.

Book 2
Beginning: Harry's ability to talk to snakes takes on a more sinister potential.
Ending: Harry uses that very ability, which Voldemort used to reopen the Chamber, to defeat the antagonist(s) and in the process destroys the first Horcrux - though we don't know what it is until Book 6 or 7, the idea is introduced through its magical powers.

Book 3
Harry starts having dreams connecting to Voldemort.
This one is more about introducing the Black family and Wormtail as he will help Voldemort come back to power, and it sets up the search for Sirius's brother's locket later. (This is also my least favorite book and the one time the author uses a form of Deus Ex Machina - the time machine - which is set up, but not in a great way and does feel a bit like a cop out)

Book 4
Beginning: We learn Harry's dreams are getting stronger and he can also see through Nagini's eyes.
Ending: Voldemort defeats the original power which kept him from touching Harry, but now another strange oddity arises where Harry's want and Voldemort's behave strangely, and where Harry is able to get away.

Book 5
We learn twin wand cores can be strange. (I think in this book?)
Ending: The mystery of why Voldemort went after Harry in the first place is revealed, there was a prophesy about him and Voldemort, which says one of them has to die. And that Dumbledore believes some of Voldemort's powers passed to Harry when he defeated him as a baby.

Book 6
Dumbledore's death is foreshadowed,
The whole book is about learning about and searching for Horcruxes - pivotal information is given in the form of what exactly a horcrux is and how a soul is split through murder - and then in the end the quest is passed to Harry through Dumbledore's death.

Book 7
Beginning: Despite using a different wand, Harry still seems to be able to outwit Voldemort through no conscious effort of his own. It's involuntary action.
Middle- we learn about the Deathly Hallows
CRISIS of the book and CLIMAX of the series: It is revealed that a horcrux can be something living - the snake - and then revealed that Voldemort unintentionally made Harry a horcrux himself. This ties up series-long questions about Harry's ability to speak to snakes, his dreams/mental connection, what Dumbledore's suspicions of the reasons for their connection really were, his odd way of defeating Voldemort in battle involuntarily regardless of wands, and makes sense of the meaning of the prophesy. It is INEVITABLE that only one of them can survive their confrontation, but what is UNEXPECTED is Harry himself being a horcrux. Once the knowledge is revealed it makes perfect, logical sense, and the hero must sacrifice themselves for the world in all hero journeys. We knew that would have to come.

And then we get to the CLIMAX of the book - the EXCITING moment of CATHARSIS where Harry reveals he's not dead after all, and with the first and simplest dueling spell he ever used and his favorite (logical and inevitable for his character), he kills Voldemort, once the most powerful and invincible wizard there was, now reduced to a shell of his former self, fulfilling the destiny set out for him from the very beginning, (and in the process proves himself the owner of the Elder Wand, and thus the three deathly hallows which he willingly destroys).

The main theme is set up from the prologue of book 1:
The boy must figure out who he is and fulfill his destiny by doing the one thing which his antagonist would never in a million years do: willingly go to his own death.
In the end, by accepting his own death (which we must all do because we are all mortal) he saves the world - repeating the very elements which first made him special in the beginning, his mother willingly giving her life in protection of his own.

And thus we come full circle.

***
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If you have questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I'm going to do some Q/A chapters later on so if you've got a particular area you want help on or more information please let me know and I'll make sure to address it in a later chapter.

Your engagement is what makes this book better so I appreciate all comments and suggestions.