Crisis versus Climax

She's confused about the difference between the crisis and the climax, and this is after a 5-hour plot intensive (where we began with the climax first and then moved to the beginning). She admits to having reread chapters in my book and watched a couple of videos again. Still confused.

"What is the difference between the crisis that brings the protagonist to her knees and the climax?"

Then she briefly relates a beginning with unusual characters and a protagonist with a concrete and relatable goal. Good start.

She then jumps to a description of one of the scenes she's confused about. It's a classic crisis, the kind that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. This is where the protagonist is attacked and brought to her knees. She dies to whom she has always been, never to return to innocence. Terrific crisis.

Next is a classic threshold of understanding and personal insight. (Dori for her mother)

The story ends with an easy though satisfying climax where the transformed protagonist stands firm in her own, newly found or rediscovered personal power and makes the right choice. (Dori's refusal).

The key scenes are always there though often difficult to peel apart from all the words until a writer stands back and sees each scene in relationship to all the other scenes on a Plot Planner.

To familiarize yourself with the Universal Story and the basic plot terms in the above blog post:

1) Read The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master (Now also as a Kindle edition)

2) Watch the Plot Series: How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay? on YouTube. A directory of all the steps to the series is to the right of this post. 27-step tutorial on Youtube

3 Watch the Monday Morning Plot Book Group Series on YouTube. A directory the book examples and plot elements discussed is to the left of this post.

For additional tips and information about the Universal Story and plotting a novel, memoir or screenplay, visit:
Blockbuster Plots for Writers
Plot Whisperer on Facebook
Plot Whisperer on Twitter

Plot Question & Answer; Meaning of the Crisis

(NOTE: I often use this forum -- the Plot Whisperer -- to answer questions I receive from writers I've worked with. I know each writer's entire story and, since I do not believe in divulging writers' plots, I change the writer's question about her own specific story to the universal.

QUESTION:

At the Crisis point [between the protagonist and her father]... does she need to confront him any further at that point? Later in the Climax, [she shows -- in action -- the transformative power of her new-found wisdom]. MF

ANSWER: 

To confront her father at the Crisis, the dark night of the soul, the breakdown, the death of her innocence, she would be acting from her old personality, who she has always been. 

Rarely does the transformation come simultaneously in the same scene as the Crisis (if any of you have an example of this, please share...) 

The Crisis leads to transformation. 

Example: Rarely in real life do we change immediately upon being hit by a Crisis. Often, for us to change and transform our deeply entrenched habits, we need more than one Crisis -- the second being worse than the first. 

The first near-death experience affects you deeply and has the power to bring you to consciousness. Then, before you know it, you're "over it" and revert back to your old ways = your ego takes back its power over you and you descend back into unconscious behaviors and the cycle begins again.

Second near-death experience makes a deeper impression = true change begins.. sometimes. 

Sometimes, at this point, consciousness prevails over ego and transformation begins. 

Sometimes, we revert back to our old selves and the cycle starts again.

This is also true in stories.

MF, your protagonist does not need more than one wake-up call. She is young and smart and gets it. 

From the "hit" she gets at the Crisis, her transformation happens over several scenes (the End -- 1/4). Dissolving old habits and creating new, healthier ones takes practice. Often the new behavior shows itself only intermittently at first. True mastery comes over time and shows itself in all its glory at the Climax.

In other words, your protagonist is not ready to respond in a transformed way at the Crisis -- that is reserved for the Climax -- of which, yours is perfect.