Throughout my research on plot development, one of primary topics that resonates with me is the importance of building a climax, the point when a story's conflict comes to its moment of greatest intensity. According to Building Better Plots by Robert Kernen, a successful climax is impossible if the rising action that leads to it has been a failure or if the climax is poorly timed.
Could that be the issue with my story? Today I'm alloting time to carefully examine my scenes and evaluate whether the action serves to advance the plot and unleash the climax. I've written 200 pages and still don't have a firm thumb on the crisis Kelis and Paxton will face, individually and as a couple. (Grrrrr!) By the amount of time I spend agonizing, uh-hum, thinking about their story, I know I'm right on the cusp to a breakthrough.
2 comments:
I've got plenty of roller coaster...I'm having a problem with everything else. LOL. My problem is motivating my characters to play nice - together. Everyone seems to be fighting for the right to speak and they all want to tell their life stories.
With my previous manuscripts I knew what the climax was going to be at the outset, but with the one I just finished (the one you're critting) that's my main problem. That and the fact that it's 25-30 pages too long! There's no dramatic climax, more of a gradual reconciliation between the two sisters. I'll probably have to rework that on the rewrite. Sigh...
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