on Helping Writers become Authors:

The Climactic Moment is the story in microcosm.

The Climactic Moment is where the protagonist’s final relationship to the plot goal is determined by definitive success or failure, as is the character’s relationship to the thematic Lie and Truth.

Although the events of the Climactic Moment might not be the “biggest” of the story, they will always be the most important, in that they decide the story.

The Climactic Moment not only brings the story’s conflict to a close, but also determines whether or not the preceding structural elements satisfactorily come together to create a cohesive and resonant whole.

In our series about the two-sided structural beats, the Climactic Moment marks the final one.

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