Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/38585
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/38585
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

You can structure a story so that the decision to do things differently is the climax, and thematically, the conflict is finding the fortitude to make that decision. It's a little abstract, but it has been done successfully before.

To a degree, _The Catcher in the Rye_ follows this theme. Holden spends the entire story trying to find himself while in an emotional haze caused by the sudden death of his older brother. The conflict is, is he going to find a healthy way to resolve his painful emotions, or is he going to make a grossly irresponsible decision that he'll regret the rest of his life? The novel ends when he allows himself to feel the full force of his emotions and decides to return home. The novel could have been structured so that this was just the first act and the rest of the book dealt with Holden continuing to work through his grief. But it was enough for him to decide to try dealing with his grief in a healthy way.

The movie _Wolf Children_ has a similar structure in its third act. The movie is about a single mom trying to raise magic children who can turn into wolves while hiding their magic from her neighbors. The climax comes when, in a single day, both of her children decide how they want to live their lives and become too mature for her to protect them anymore. The fear of what will happen to them next and sense of loss she feels overwhelms her - until she realizes that it's going to be OK and her children can take care of themselves. The movie could have been structured so that the decision to let go was the end of the first act, and the meat of the plot was about adjusting to the new, looser relationship the woman had with her children. But again, reaching that decision was a fitting climax for a movie that focused on a different aspect of this mother's experience.

Original score: 1