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Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Missing the Climax

It isn't my fault your brain goes to inappropriate places. I'm talking about the climax of my WIP.

Structuring Your Novel has moved from explaining basic structural elements of a story to FAQs. I don't need these as much, so I'm skimming until we reach the next stage of K.M. Weiland's book. Even if I find nothing else of interest in the last 50%, I still got my $2.99 worth. I'm satisfied.

However, I'm not satisfied with Dangling Participles. I've taken notes the last week, made a sketch of an outline I will shortly transfer to a spreadsheet, and decided once and for all what I'm currently lacking is a slam-bang finish.

I suspected this for a while. One of the reasons I didn't fully commit to the story is I saw no clear  pinnacle. You know, that moment everything rushes toward? The Big Battle. The Point where The Point of No Return leads you.

One of my fears is promising what I can't deliver. A reader takes a chance on monster books like mine, and I'm supposed to reward their faith by giving them the ride of their literary lives. This includes a powerful and satisfying climax.

TT: Geez ole Pete. It all sounds incredibly dirty, doesn't it? Stupid over-sexualized American culture.

The lack of a climax may also be due to the lack of a concrete protagonist. After a week of pondering, I'm not sure who or what "the villain" is or should be among the half dozen options I've explored. It's kind of hard to fight an unidentified enemy in an epic battle.

This is one of those moments I'm hoping the writing will reveal the ending. I have a direction and a vague idea of what will happen. As I put these characters through their paces, their enemy should reveal itself and hopefully provide the obvious climax.

May as well end as I began. Happy Hump Day, dear readers!

Oi.


2 comments:

  1. I did write that, didn't I? That was the old name. Oooh, I know what I'll blog about tomorrow!

    ReplyDelete

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