Blog Post 8 - Plot, Conflict & Climax

As a class, we are down to the wire in structuring our short story. This is the moment to create mistakes, scenes, and most importantly, create the plot, conflict and climax. Of course, there is no story without plot or conflict. According to Michael Kardos,”Your story’s conflict, whatever it is, will need to come to a climactic moment. And that moment should most likely be given its due space, dramatized rather than summarized, so that the reader can experience this crucial part of your story along with the characters” (103). I also viewed Freytag’s pyramid as a visual aid during this process.

This chapter and the checklists mostly, helped me restructure sections of my story in more ways than one. The checklists in the chapter provided guidance for me and it was a way to redefine my focus which is creating more tension to create a climax. As I began working on my short story, I began assessing the way I was writing and what exactly it is I was writing. It is important to have important scenes, not wordy scenes. I wanted to make sure that each scene was indeed a nice build for the climax.

Works Cited

Kardos, Michael. “The Art and Craft of Fiction: A Writer’s Guide”. 2nd edition. Macmillan Learning. Print. p 103.

Landsborough, William D. “Freytag’s Pyramid and The Three-Act Plot Structure”. 11 July 2017. Web. https://www.dlandsborough.com/blog/2017/7/11/freytags-pyramid-and-the-three-act-plot-structure.

Study.com. “Rising Action in a Story: Definition and Examples”. Web. https://study.com/academy/lesson/rising-action-in-a-story-definition-examples-quiz.html. Date accessed 10 April 2020.