This is K.M. Wyland and you are listening to the Helping Writers Become Authors Podcast.

I hope you enjoy this week's episode,

The Two Halfs of the Clomactic Moment.

The Clomactic 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.

This is the final episode in our little series about the two-sided structural beats, of which the climactic moment

is the final one.

As we've seen in the episodes over the course of the past month, this two-sidedness is always about providing a stark division

between what comes before and what comes after. For the climactic moment, what comes before is what will be in this new paradigm the protagonist has now created.

And what comes after is what will be in this new paradigm the protagonist has now

created. Specifically unto itself the climactic moment

requires the pacing of the story and the climactic sequence to offer two very

specific halves of its own, which we will be calling sacrifice and victory or failure.

So what is the climactic moment?

Ideal structural timing sees the third act

begin via the turning point of the third plot point

...