How to Add Tension to Your Book’s Climax
For my second book, I wrote a climax that checked off a lot of boxes. It completed my protagonist’s character arc, it revealed the bad guy, it answered some lingering mysteries, and yet…it fell short.
So, as I do, I turned to other stories to help me understand how I could make mine better. And in doing so, I discovered an extremely helpful tip.
2 Layers of Action
Remember The Empire Strikes Back? I was watching this movie when (possibly the most obvious truth in the world) hit me: there was (very strategically) more than one thing happening in the climax.
There was added tension and stakes. Luke has tracked down his friends and is battling Vader AND Leia and Chewy are dealing with Lando AND Han just got frozen in carbonite.
That’s a lot of stuff happening.
Not to mention, each of these storylines have high stakes (meaning the characters have something big to lose if things don’t go their way). Which means we, as the viewers, are edge-of-our-seats invested.
But what if you’re writing a book with only one point of view?
Star Wars has the luxury of switching between 2 points of view, giving them an easy way to provide 2 layers of action.
So to illustrate how to add layers of action with just one POV, I’m going to turn to one of my trusty favorites (hopefully you’re not getting sick of it yet): Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
In the climax of this story, Harry and Hermione are trying to free Buckbeak and Sirius from respective deaths. But wait, there’s more! They’re ALSO trying to avoid being seen by anyone. Because if they do, their time travel could have dire consequences.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s 2 layers of action, each with their own stakes attached!
Save Buckbeak and Sirius
Avoid being seen or risk unraveling the very fabric of time
Need more examples? No problem.
Recently, I was reading a craft book when the author inserted a snippet from a novel in an effort to illustrate his point. This was only a few paragraphs of the climax of the novel, but it was enough for me to grasp even further how to effectively write 2 layers of action.
In this snippet, the protagonist is facing off against a bad guy. The bad guy is holding a gun. Okay, good. We’ve got some tension and stakes: if the protagonist makes a wrong move, the bad guy might just pull the trigger.
But wait, there’s more! There is a fire raging around them. That’s right. They are ALSO caught in a house that’s on fire, and they need to figure out how to both escape the bad guy and not get swallowed by the flames. One point of view, 2 layers of action.
Deal with the bad guy pointing a gun in their faces
Escape the raging fire threatening to collapse the house they are in
So. What can you do in your novel to bring an added layer of tension and stakes? It might be something in the background, a different set of characters facing action in a different point of view, or an added complication that is unique to your story world.
Any way you choose to do it, adding that second layer of tension is sure to boost your climax up a notch and elevate your story as a whole.
The fastest way to write a strong story is with an effective outline that plots your novel’s beating heart.
In Outline Your Novel, you’ll learn exactly what these beats are, why they matter, and how to outline them effectively to make your story sing.
