The climax is the highest point in a story. The levels of energy are on another level creating lots of tension. This part is where the audience can’t let go of the book. Can’t leave the chair even for a bathroom break. Unless you are in the bathroom. Which you’ll stay longer than usual. But the climax is where all the build-ups, subplots come together to see if the main character will achieve his or her goal, defeat the antagonist, and resolve the main conflict.
A good climax happens when everything is on point and your main character has as many tools mentally or physically to challenge the main obstacle of the story. Yet you don’t know if it can be done. Will the boy have the courage to stand up to the bully? Will the girl approach her crush and finally kiss? Or is it an epic battle where the fates of the world are decided by a game of chess? Ok, maybe not chess. Maybe hundreds of thousands of soldiers battling in a huge field.
No matter what your story is about, the climax is when the ultimate challenge looks the main character in the face and it is DO or DIE! I know it sounds dramatic. But that’s what it is. Dramatic! You got to make it difficult for your character to achieve the goal. Remember, if you put things easy it will be a huge let down for someone that decided to invest his or her time on your story.
So what else can you do with your climax? You can make it memorable. Something that would make your audience’s jaw drop or create that WOW effect. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is a tragedy. At the climax of this story, it doesn’t disappoint. Romeo kills himself because he thinks Juliet is dead. She wakes up to see Romeo is dead. So she kills herself. Because of this screenplay written in the 1500s, you can see various adaptations of it. Also, there are many homage or stories that have a very close to climax as Romeo and Juliet. Take for example The Hunger Games. Katniss and Peeta decide to eat poisonous berries instead of killing each other. It is not completely the same but you can see a similar approach to Romeo and Juliet.