How to write a strong climax

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Welcome to another #AskMeAnything session! In this series, I'm responding to your questions about the publishing industry and how to write a better book. Leave me any additional questions in the comments and I will add them to my list for future videos!

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TODAY'S #ASKMEANYTHING :
01:00 - How to write an effective climax
03:06 - How many scene descriptions and details should you include?
05:51 - How many drafts should you write before querying?
07:24 - Is Threads replacing Twitter/X for the writing community?

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ABOUT ME:
My name is Alyssa Matesic, and I’m a professional book editor with nearly a decade of book publishing and editorial experience. Throughout my career, I’ve held editorial roles across both sides of the publishing industry: Big Five publishing houses and literary agencies. The goal of this channel is to help writers throughout the book writing journey—whether you're working on your manuscript or you're looking for publishing advice.

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[jamesgossweiler]

I love your videos, Alyssa! I'm about halfway done with my debut science fiction novel. The best comment I heard you make was, "New authors think writing the complete first draft is the hard part. That's incorrect. Once you have your first draft in hand, that's when the real work begins." Wow, absolutely true.

[Varre]

If you want some really good advice when it comes to writing a climax, the best climaxes are those where all of the unresolved plot points/Chekhov's guns come together and are all fired at once in a satisfying and rewarding way, or in more specific terms, the story reaches it's thematic message at the climax as a result of the previous groundwork.

Great pieces of media that I would recommend people look at on how to write great climaxes would be FMAB, Breaking Bad, and Lord of the Rings.

[blt]

A lot of questions regarding writing a strong climax, the amount of description one should include, difficult scenes, pacing, etc. can be answered by reading more. By that I mean reading high quality fiction that can provide examples of excellent storytelling and craft. You can't go wrong browsing contemporary reads, finding books that intrigue you as a reader, and reading in a critical way (pay attention to pace, climax, what is described and what is left out, how difficult scenes are selected and conveyed and why/where they've been included, etc.) so you perceive not as a reader but as a writer critiquing the work of peers. Keep reading and you will find certain books are not for you, some are pretty good but flawed (read carefully to learn what works and what doesn't), and a few are *chef's kiss*. Don't only read the classics. And don't skip out on reading; writers must make time to read and learn. From that, you'll learn so much and be able to answer many writing questions. Best of luck to everyone.

[Sheristen]

Alyssa's content has been on fire lately. 🔥🔥🔥

[psycthom]

I love that POV of climax advice - I think a lot of people try to be super melodramatic (e.g. explosions) rather than emotionally dramatic in their big finales

[AFringedGentian]

Hi Alyssa, your advice for writing a strong climax by focusing on the POV character’s internal life was exactly what I needed. I’ve been letting the climax of my second book intimidate me for ages, and your advice inspired me. Thank you for everything you do for us, Alyssa! ❤

[deborahafeare-qnjs]

I love your videos❤
They are helping me with my writing journey😊

[sanaria]

Hiya, Ms. Matesic (sorry, Southern girl tendencies die hard)! Thank you for all your hard work in demystifying the publishing industry. Everything I know about it can be credited to you, and I can't say enough how valuable and irreplaceable your insights are. Thank you. <3

Question: I've been developing two different stories for several years, the latter being a fantasy/historical fan fiction aimed to improve my skills. A year into the project, I've received encouragement to rebrand the story and publish the fan fiction before my original project. That begs the question... several best-sellers in recent years are rebranded fan fictions (which many mentioned in their feedback), but how does that even work? Naturally, the project must be unique enough to avoid begging copyright claims, but in what way? How different do a story's characters, settings, and experiences have to be? Names should be changed and the plot should follow a different path, but is that enough? How do you query an agent with a story that initially began as a fanfiction?

[lady_aldara]

I love your videos so much!!! Your advice is so solid and it's so easy to see that you have tons of advice in the writing field. Thank you so much for blessing us with your wisdom.
A question I was thinking about is, how can you tell when your craft is solid enough to enter the publishing world and start querying? I've been writing for almost four years and am on the brink of finishing my second novel, but I don't think my books are good enough to get published yet... I've heard some people say that you should write six novels before starting to publish, or write for a certain amount of years. Do you have any thoughts or guidelines you'd recommend?

[Tim_with_Tomes_and_Tales]

Such a great video. Thank you. Currently, I'm working on line/sentence structure editing of my YA fantasy adventure. ***sigh*** Slow process. Have a great day, everyone.

[jeanshelbybooks]

This is so helpful for me right now! I am editing my 7th book and I just read my climax and was thinking, wow, that’s weak! 😂😂 Thanks for the tips!

[MomOnTheMend]

I love your videos. I have a question I’d love answered: As an aspiring YA author with social media anxiety, is it possible to find success without being plastered all over socials?

[FlynnForecastleOfficial]

This is probably a question that'll answer itself but here goes.

I'm a first time author wrapping up my edits to my first draft. When querying out to agents should I greet them and signature with my real name or my pen name? With my common sense tingling I'm going to safely presume my real name.

[nitasu]

Hi Alyssa! I stumbled upon your video about head-hopping and it was SO enlightening and now I'm deep-diving through your vids and have subbed!

One thing I'm really worried about as I'm editing my book is over-using scene breaks in the few instances where I REALLY think multiple POV characters' inner thoughts are necessary to make the point land. Should I err on the side of caution and just make the transitions to a new thinker as clear as possible? Or, are the multiple scene breaks worth looking a little jarring?

Thanks!

[writingitright]

Hi, Alyssa! Question here:

I am a couple steps away from querying for the first time with my YA portal fantasy novel. I have already written my query letter, and I am happy with every part of it…except for the comps. I have found a few narratives in my same genre as possible comps, but most of them are older (5-6) years old and PERFECTLY compare to my book. However, I am afraid that using the older comps that just feel right for my novel might turn off literary agents. Should I settle for newer comps that don’t represent my story as much, or use the older ones that better compare? Thank you!

[paulalansmart]

Just sending query letters this week...😁 Love your videos

[LeighMilneMagic]

Hi. I've been following you for a long time, and you keep me motivated!
My question is about my fear... Running out of literary agents. Is this something that might happen? Can I resubmit to the same agency, but a different agent?
Thanks

[patriciapepper]

Thank you so much for your content, Alyssa! I have written a novella which I am now expanding into a contemporary novel. My mother tongue is Portuguese so I am writing it in this language. I am also a linguist and work in the translation field however I had my first work translated into English using a professional translator whose mother tongue is English. How is the market for translated books? Should I try to publish my book in my mother tongue and hope my publisher publishes my novel in another language? I live in the UK and my publishing focus is here and the US. Thank you very much ❤

[anandaferraresi]

Hi Alyssa, I love your channel and would love to know: can we traditionally publish more than one genre under the same name or do agents ask you to have a pen name for different genres than your debut’s?

[jenzebel]

Thanks for all the helpful tips, Alyssa! Two questions for you on the topic of querying. First, if an agent gives a number of pages but no other specifications, should authors always assume 12 pt. Times New Roman double-spaced font? Second, I've heard a lot of horror stories about how agents rarely look at the slush pile. Is that true? Do agents really get almost all of their manuscripts by referral? Thank you for any & all advice on this topic!