I had an interesting exchange with a student who is still convinced that climax is a completely separate matter from plot. I did a quick and fairly extensive internet search to see if I somehow missed something about the relationship between plot and climax in my years of continuing study. I’ve missed a bunch of stuff, but nothing about climax being a completely separate entity from plot. The climax is a direct result of plots, subplots, and specific interactions between characters.
Climax is one of five key plot points in a story. You start with the exposition, move into the rising action, climax, and then on into the falling action and finally the resolution. This could also be a recipe for sexual intercourse, considering the similarities between the stages. Given that comparison, separating climax from the sequence would make the climax meaningless. There is no context. It is reduced to a forced moment of presumed pleasure with no sense of how we got here or where we go afterwards.
I’m ranting, of course, but the moment truly reflects the modern lack of understanding of story. I don’t truly believe the future of writing is in any real jeopardy I just think that I’m often physically surrounded by an audience of readers who have lower standards than the readers I tend to write for–especially the Shadowrun readers who will yank your beating heart from your chest if you tread on the foundation of Shadowrun. Those readers get the purpose and nuance of climax and why it cannot be separated from plot in any meaningful way.
Some Thoughts:
- An American won the Boston Marathon! I mean an Eritrean… It is truly amazing and wonderful to live in a country where you can become a member of that country and represent that country no matter where you are originally from. There is a certain beauty here which is lost on those who scream angrily about how immigration is destroying America.
- Wow, still ranting…