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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/19885
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/19885
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I am currently writing a short book. I've neared the end of the plot, but now I'm seeing a problem: my conflict isn't ending at the climax.

The climax should always be the point where _all_ of the problems (inner and outer) come to a head and are then resolved. This is where novels should in theory end. You usually need a chapter or epilogue afterwards to wrap things up (they lived happily ever after), but that's it. Once the climax is done, so is the novel.

I currently have the problem that the main conflict is resolved, and then the protagonist spends an additional chapter resolving a side conflict. The side conflict is obvious and needs to be resolved, but it's still a side conflict.

**Details:** In my book, the main conflict is that the protagonist is trying to rescue X from an abandoned building full of... shall we say, 'less than savory characters.' He knows where X is, and finds her. That is the end of the main conflict, as believing that she was still alive was the main problem. The side conflict? They still have to get out of the abandoned building and past the unsavory characters.

You can see my problem. I can't very well just end the book when X is found and explain in an epilogue that they got out (Or can I?).

**Question:** How can I fix this? Is there some way I can resolve this problem without rewriting the entire last half of my short story?

Original score: 4