crafty climaxes
Nov. 16th, 2023 11:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marycatelliIt's unwise to make the climax a purely intellectual problem solved.
Even a mystery ends, usually, with a show-down with the culprit, who is often forced into confession. The classic summing up scene features all the major characters and forces them all into new relationships. I have read mysteries that end earlier than that, but in scenes where a cop is persuaded to bring charges -- usually not only by the strength of the evidence, but by unwillingness to let such evil go unpunished, or the realization that the murderer has someone else he has enough reason to murder by his own standards.
Human reaction to the realization is an integral part of the climax. A villain screaming out in impotent rage is a cliche for the excellent reason that it brings the story down from the intellectual level to the level of emotions and sentiments, fiction's natural and necessary field.
Even a mystery ends, usually, with a show-down with the culprit, who is often forced into confession. The classic summing up scene features all the major characters and forces them all into new relationships. I have read mysteries that end earlier than that, but in scenes where a cop is persuaded to bring charges -- usually not only by the strength of the evidence, but by unwillingness to let such evil go unpunished, or the realization that the murderer has someone else he has enough reason to murder by his own standards.
Human reaction to the realization is an integral part of the climax. A villain screaming out in impotent rage is a cliche for the excellent reason that it brings the story down from the intellectual level to the level of emotions and sentiments, fiction's natural and necessary field.