- Misty Evans
- June 17, 2024
- 7:31 pm
This year, Writing Raven Author Solutions is breaking down the 15 beats of writing a bestselling novel based on the three-act structure for you.
We’re here! The long-awaited Finale. This is the payoff your readers have been eagerly anticipating when your protagonist comes face-to-face with the story’s central conflict in an epic confrontation.
Reread that. Epic confrontation. This is no small scene or chapter. It’s the final showdown.
Your character’s growth arc has reached its summit. Have they truly evolved and overcome their flaws and fears?
Have they integrated the skills, resources, and self-actualizing breakthroughs from their dark night of the soul?
Don’t waste this moment. Go big and visually dazzle readers with spectacle. Imagine the massive Act 3 cattle drive in City Slickers, the Death Star battle in Star Wars, or Frodo finally confronting the hatred within himself on Mount Doom.
Size, stakes, and symbolic significance – your Finale should attack on all cylinders.
More importantly, the stakes are not just external. The Finale should also represent your protagonist’s final internal struggle to embody the selfless or enlightened mentality they’ve been building towards.
Perhaps they must make a sacrifice for the greater good.
Or reject their former selfish impulses.
Or maybe they finally accept a core truth about themselves.
Example
In Lord of the Rings, Frodo undergoes a harrowing external battle against Gollum over the corrupting power of the ring. But his greater personal struggle is overcoming the ring’s evil influence and rejecting its poisonous allure. His spiritual wholeness is put to the truest test.
Your Turn
Set the stage and amplify the daunting adversity facing your protagonist – really sell us on the enormity of this do-or-die scenario.
Next, have your protagonist implement specific tools or philosophies they acquired across the second act’s trials – remind us of their arc’s progression.
Then, bam. Time for the titanic external clash! Describe a few big visual, nail-biting pieces of the action sequence. How does the internal conflict emerge or parallel this external battle?
Finally, the climax arrives where your hero makes a definitive choice representing the evolution of their character – narrow in on this crucial moral, philosophical, or spiritual decision that cements their transformation and resolves the driving question from the story’s opening.
Allow your Finale beat to be a cathartic release and showcase everything your protagonist has endured across their journey.
But most importantly, craft it as a celebration of the truth they have claimed – your readers will be cheering for their redemption every step of the way.
Cheering with you,
The Writing Ravens
Writing Raven Author Solutions has all your writing resources for starting your first novel, or finding success with your twentieth. We offer consultations, worksheets, premade and custom covers, and more. We accept credit cards and PayPal for your convenience.
Grab your copy of Writing Raven’s Breaking Down the Beats Worksheet here: http://writing-raven.com/product/breaking-down-the-beats-writing-exercise