Falling Action and Resolution: How Stories Settle

After the climax, the story shows the results and ties up loose ends.

Once the climax has passed, the story begins to settle. The falling action shows the immediate results of the climax: characters react, clean up, or deal with consequences. The resolution is the ending, where the conflict is resolved and we see how life has changed. Example: in the climax, the class finally wins the bridge-building contest after their first two bridges collapsed.

Falling action: they carry the trophy back to school, and the teacher admits she was nervous too. Resolution: the class decides to teach younger students how to build bridges, showing they've learned patience and teamwork. Not every resolution is perfectly happy. Sometimes a character loses but grows wiser.

When you retell an ending, include both what happened and how the character or situation is different now.

• 1Falling action shows the results of the climax.
• 2The resolution shows how the conflict ends.
• 3A good retelling tells what changed by the end.