How to Craft Steep Climbs and Gut-Wrenching Drops in a Story
Pulling Readers In
As storytellers, our number one goal is to look for ways to tell a more compelling story. A story that is surprising, exciting, heartbreaking, swoon-worthy, thrilling, terrifying, etc.
But each of the adjectives above only comes into effect when the story grips us emotionally. When we, as the reader, feel more invested in the characters and plot, we feel the stakes more intensely.
One way to pull a reader into your story is with steep climbs.
What is a steep climb?
I believe I read about this concept from Donald Maas in his book Writing the Breakout Novel, though I can’t remember where, specifically, he mentioned it.
However, I do remember that the concept resonated with me. I realized that, yes, my favorite stories do tend to pull me higher and higher, along with the protagonist as they climb in their story world, only to drop me off a cliff at the low point of their journey.
I like to think of steep climbs like being in a ski lift. We hopped on, now we’re being pulled up, up, up. And as we gain height, our hearts start to race a little, we start to pay a bit more attention, our senses become more alert and the moment feels more exciting. More important. More memorable.
This is what it feels like when a character starts to gain momentum in a specific area of their life. They may have started without friends, money, confidence, etc., but they’re slowly gaining more as the story goes on—which only gives them more to lose when things inevitably go wrong.
In order to demonstrate this better, let’s take a look at some specific examples of areas a character can climb in their journey, and stories that do it well.
Social Climbs - Can’t Buy Me Love
In this film, Ronald Miller, a teenage geek who is tired of watching from the outskirts as the popular kids live their vibrant lives, makes a deal with the most popular girl in school (and his next door neighbor): he’ll give her the money to replace her mother’s designer dress that she accidentally ruined, if she pretends to date him for a short time.
Ronald quickly begins his social climb. But what happens when all of your new friends learn their perception of you (as being associated with the most popular girl in school) is based on a lie?
A sharp drop cannot be far behind such a revelation. And when it does happens, we feel it as the viewer.
Romantic Climbs - How to Lose a Guy In 10 Days
Though romantic climbs happen in literally every romance, let’s take a brief look at this early 200’s rom-com. In it, Andie Anderson attempts to drive a new guy away in order to write a story for her magazine column, while the love interest, Benjamin Barry, attempts to woo a stranger his colleagues picked out in order to win a bet (and therefore an account within his advertising firm).
As the two spend time together, they slowly climb that romantic mountain. And while Andie might claim you can’t lose something you never had at their low point, we as the audience sure felt the sharp drop that happened when all of their lies and motive came to the light.
Emotional Climbs - The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman
Last week I did a deep dive into plotting character arcs, and I used The Midwife’s Apprentice as an example (you should check it out—I’ve been referring to the post as I plot my newest story!).
In it, 12-year-old Brat in 14th century England believes she is worthless. But she climbs high and fast—emotionally—as she starts to embrace her own capabilities, building confidence, pluck, courage, and determination.
But that climb only gives her further to fall when she fails massively, causing her to once again burrow back into her low self-worth.
Moral Climbs - The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
To explore a different path storytellers can take, let’s look at The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, which I just finished.
Without giving spoilers, our protagonist, Theo, a psychotherapist, climbs morally over the course of his story as he attempts to heal his new patient: the mute murderess, Alicia Berenson through therapy. Slowly we learn more about Alicia—her childhood, her mental state, and the likelihood that she was, indeed, involved in the murder—and we see Theo’s genuine concern for her and attempts to help.
But then, as the audience, we see him drop sharply from that moral high ground when certain truths come to light. This goes to show that sometimes the drop comes from a choice or circumstance that the protagonist encounters in the story, and sometimes it happens once we, as the audience, learn something that has been concealed from us, making us feel the biggest effects of that drop.
Power/Prestige Climbs - Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
In the novel Project Hail Mary, the protagonist is plucked from obscurity and chosen to lead a mission to save the world. He is a reluctant hero, to say the least, which leads us to wonder: Can he live up to the power that has been placed in his hands? Or will his choices break the hearts of those (the reader) who so desperately want him to be the hero we know he can be? The drop at the end of his climb will answer that question.
Needless to say, as he gets sucked more into this mission, contributing and meeting people and learning about the stakes, his prestige continues to climb. He becomes one of the most influential and important figures in the world, which makes his drop all the more dramatic and gut-wrenching.
Or, to throw another one in there, what about Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network? In his story, he gains an incredible amount of power and prestige in his upward climb as Facebook takes off. But what is prestige on a global scale if you lose all of your friends?
Economical Climbs - Yesterday
Rags to riches to rags to riches. In Yesterday, Jack Malik literally becomes the world’s biggest star in a matter of weeks. This is what he has always wanted, but he stole the music that got him where he is—he’s living a lie. When that lie finally reaches a head, all of the wealth and fame he’s been gathering on his steep climb will inevitably have to fall.
Intellectual Climbs - Legally Blonde
In Legally Blonde, Elle puts in a lot of work and effort to secure her spot at Harvard Law School—and she thinks it’s all for a boy. But when her intelligence and capability is questioned, she learns how much her own worth means to her, and she topples right over that cliff. Luckily, after dusting herself off, Elle is ready to prove what she is actually capable of.
A couple of notes:
This climb has to be something the character cares deeply about in order for us to be invested.
If your protagonist loses something they didn’t really care about having in the first place, what do we care? In Can’t Buy Me Love, Ronald Miller wants nothing more than to be popular. It’s his dream—and he relishes his time at the top, socially.The other thing to keep in mind is that there is going to be crossover.
Taking another look at Can’t Buy Me Love, Ronald gains confidence, social influence (power/prestige), and a romantic relationship, in addition to his popularity. In Yesterday, Jack gains wealth, power, and social influence. The point is to give your character a great deal of something they wanted or were lacking—and then take it away.
Summary
That last sentence was key, so I’m going to repeat it:
Give your character a great deal of something they wanted or were lacking—and then take it away.
This is the thing we love to see in stories—a character who earns or is given something, only to have it ripped away. This way we get to see the real reason we showed up for the story:
We get to see whether or not they can pick themself up, dust themself off, and re-earn what they lost.
Those moments are the ones we crave. They’re the reason we sit through the first three-quarters of the story. To see the honest, transparent, gut-wrenching, vulnerable, lovable effort take center stage. But the only way to make these moments meaningful is to show that climb and drop first.
So how do you do this? It’s just about four steps!
Start Low - What is your protagonist missing or wanting?
Introduce them to people, situations, and opportunities that propel them upward - Give the protagonist that thing they so desperately craved.
Take it away - whether external or internal forces are acting as the catalyst that will cost them what they’ve earned.
Make them re-earn it through more honest or vulnerable effort.
What do you think? Are there different types of climbs in your favorite stories? Let me know!
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