How to Create Short story climax

The short story climax, to put it in very simple terms, is that point in the short story when the action is at its peak.

Notice that I said: ‘that point. This simply shows that the climax does not last for an extended period of time. It is a moment in the narrative—so dramatic that it simply overturns the whole story, making it plunge in a whole new direction.

There is a very close connection between the conflict and the climax. We defined conflict as the struggle of the main character with another character, his own inward emotions or thoughts, or another external spiritual or psychological force.

Conflict is just not pertinent to the narrative, but is the very building block of the story. Without it, the story would not exist. It is what makes the reader care for the character, and is what makes her read on. She follows him as he makes his movement to solve his problem. And as she reads, she wonders: “When is he going to realize this…” or “When is something going to happen?”

Yes, as we read a story, we all anticipate a certain moment when the tables are going to overturn.

Remember the above definition of short story climax?

I said it is the point in the story when the action is at its peak.

But, as we have seen, we are not just talking about any action. We are talking about the action which is produced by the conflict. So let as redefine the climax, shall we?

The climax of a short story is the moment in the story when the action produced by the conflict is at its peak.

We can even draw a graph to further demonstrate what we are talking about:

Why have I emphasized the conflict induced action? Well, it is basically because action in a story fluctuates. At certain points, the action may be very intense and gripping. They maybe several of these hot spots in a story: all these build up on the narrative and conflict. So the graph of a story may not be as smooth as the one above. But not just any hot spot will qualify to be the climax. If a certain hot spot does not involve conflict, it is not the climax, no matter how ‘hot’ it is. For it to qualify, it must be decisive and highlight the conflict in a whole new way, in a way that turns the whole narrative around. It goes without saying that the reader should not expect any other hot spot after the climax. Rather, she should expect the action to decline to the resolution.

However, considering the length of a short story, it cannot accommodate plenty hot spots, and in most cases, it may only have one—the climax.

It is all making sense, right? Good.

We are going to analyze a short story with about three hot spots and see why hot spot number 2, as demonstrated in the graph below, qualifies to be the climax.

The graph above represents the narrative of the story I can’t Live Without You by LJ Kundananji.

I would recommend that you read the story first:

I can’t Live Without You

This story has about three hot spots. Can you identify them all?

The first hot spot is here, when the Emmy, the girl Lewis loves, shows signs of being enamoured with Lewis’ best friend, Patwell:

“I have really enjoyed myself, guys,” she said with a saccharine smile, but her eyes predominantly on Patwell, as they escorted her to the station where she was going to take a bus home.Lewis gingerly pulled her aside and stared into her face.

“I will see you soon…” he said a bit firmly.

To his dismay, there was a distant look in her eyes.

“Yeah…” she said.

“I’ll call you…” he promised.

“Okay…bye…” with that she got on the bus. The two boys watched the bus as it slowly drove away.

“She is great man!” Patwell exclaimed, “You chose well…” Lewis just glanced at his friend coldly.

“You sure did enjoy yourself,” he said in an icy cold voice.

“Didn’t you?”

“Not when you stole all her attention, I didn’t,” he replied.

After this, the story gains momentum, with Lewis’ conflict –his profuse worries that he is about to lose the girl he loves—growing to catastrophic levels. His worry is heightened by Emmy’s sudden strange and cold behaviour—she stops responding to his messages, and eventually becomes too ‘busy’ to see him.

Things get too obvious—that something is terribly wrong—when Emmy turns down a rendezvous at the last minute, claiming that she is too busy. At this moment, the reader is expectant. Something seems to be in the offing; something quite sinister…

Lewis decides to go to watch a movie in an attempt to forget his misery. And now here, at the moment when the reader is wondering when it is going to happen, it does happen: hot spot number 2:

Suddenly, as he turned to walk into the cinema, he came face to face with Emmy. He stopped dead in his path. The popcorn crushed to the ground and scattered all over the floor. She gaped at him in shock, her eyes as round as golf balls. She looked terribly fetching in her long black dress that exposed her shoulders and just covered her breasts. Her treated hair was all curly and black. There was a smudge of pink lipstick on her lips.

“Emmy, I am so glad you came!” he exclaimed. “I really did miss you! I really do love you Emmy! I have realized that I can’t live without you…”

But Emmy just stood there, petrified like a statue, her eyes growing wider. Lewis was puzzled.

“Talk to me, Emmy,” he said pleadingly.

She slowly turned her head and looked behind her. Lewis followed her gaze and noticed with utter shock Patwell walking towards them.

“Emmy! There you are! Have you bought the pop…” the words died in his throat when he suddenly saw Lewis.

Lewis shook his head in utter disbelief.

“No…no…no…” he said in a small voice, staring at his friend with a gapping mouth. “I thought we are friends, Patwell.”

“I am so sorry,” Patwell said in a trembling voice.

Lewis stared from Emmy to Patwell, not quite sure of what to make of it. His eyes flooded with tears. He slowly reached out for Emmy’s hand and gently squeezed it. He stared into her face. Tears were streaking down her face in streams.

“Goodbye, my love,” he said as he let go of her hand. He slowly turned and walked out of the building.

Here, the reader sighs with pity.

“Poor boy,” she is probably thinking. “He did not deserve all that.”

But just when she is thinking in this way, another hot spot hits her—hot spot number 3:

Suddenly, there was the sound of screeching tires and screams of revulsion outside.

“What’s that?” Emmy asked, suddenly letting go of Patwell. Her eyes grew wide with fear—cold icy fear.

The two of them rushed outside along with a number of people. A large crowd had gathered in the car park, with everyone fighting to see what had happened. They fought their way through the crowd to the front. They were met with a terrible sight. There, on the ground with blood splattered all over his clothes lay Lewis with his face down. The driver of the car that had hit him was trembling all over as he tried to turn him over. Emmy threw her hand to her mouth in severe shock.

“Oh God!” she cried as she collapsed to the ground, “I killed him!”

With this heartrending scene, LJ brings the story to its teary end.

Now the question is: which of these three hot spots deserve to be the climax? Well which one meets the definition we agreed on at the onset?

In all fairness, the first does not. It simply works to bring out the conflict, which in this case is an apparent insecurity on the main character’s part.

How about the second?

It is not only hot, but it is the moment the reader has been waiting for; the moment when the insecurity of the main character is justified; the moment that overturns the whole narrative. What makes this moment dramatic?

Why, Lewis, girl-friend has been going out with his best friend, and all this while he has been playing all innocent about it! Can anything be more dramatic than this?

Indeed, it is at this moment, when Luis learns of the treachery of his friend. It is this moment which heightens Lewis’ internal conflict.Can anything be more dramatic than this?

You may argue that the climatic moment is hot spot 3 After all, you may say, Lewis dies! And after this, the story comes to an end and there is no further hot spot.

Hmm…

Think a little harder though. Isn’t hot spot 3 a bit inconclusive as to conflict? Remember the conflict? It is Luis’ insecurity, and apparent jealousy. It is his fear that he is going to lose his girlfriend. Is this hot spot action as a result of this conflict? One cannot say for sure. Did he really hurl himself in front of the car to fulfill those chilly words he uttered, namely, “I can’t live without you?” or was he simply so distraught that he did not see the car coming? Or was it, perhaps, due to recklessness on the driver’s part?

Tough questions these…

But in any case, whatever happened, it was after Luis’ encounter with stark reality—that moment when he meets his girlfriend with another man.

Hot spot number 3 is a technique that LJ uses to complete the story. He desires the reader to reach a conclusion for herself regarding the answer to this question:

“What killed Lewis?”

You know the answer to the question, right? Yes, it was that moment when he meets Emmy at the cinema. And even if he did not get run over, so great was his distress (due to this meeting) that he would have died anyway….

So, when it comes to short story climax, remember this few points:

• It is the turning point in the action graph.
• It is the point when the conflict-induced action is at its peak.
• No further peak point should follow this one: the action should decline to the resolution.

Ever experienced that intense and overpowering feeling in the pit of your stomach when the car you are being driven in suddenly plunges swiftly down a steep slop? In crude comparison, that is what the climax in the story does.

While you are reading (driving) along, you reach that moment when the narrative yanks downwards towards the resolution. Than dramatic yanking is the climax.

So when you write a story, write one with an appropriate number of ‘bumps’, but the last one should give us such a yanking that we never forget it!

“Gosh! I can’t write like that!”

Yes you can! If you were interested enough to read this article to this point, you’ve got what it takes to write a good short story, with a perfectly developed climax….

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