Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice.
Exposition
#firstworldproblems
The book opens and we are introduced to Cameron, a disgruntled, self-absorbed, hilariously sarcastic sixteen-year-old boy. He faces the normal teenage issues—social anxiety, recreational drug use, irritating parents, and a perpetually peppy and popular twin sister to whom he is constantly being compared (and found wanting). This part of the book sets the stage for whatever conflict he's going to face by giving us a kind of status quo, a Cameron base-line, if you will.
Rising Action
Not So Fast
Cameron is dying. How's that for a complication, eh? So the rising action of our tale includes his diagnosis and his subsequent quest with Gonzo to find Dr. X, send the dark energy back to the dimension in which it belongs, and close the wormhole through which it came. We know it's the rising action because with each event the stakes get just a little bit higher, Cam's time left gets a little bit shorter, and he gets a little bit closer to achieving his quest.
Climax
Knock, Knock, Knocking on Heaven's Door
The climax of the book occurs at the YA! Party House when Cam gets Copenhagen Interpretation to play while he uses the Calabi Yau manifold to amplify their music. The fire giants are defeated, the wormhole is closed, and the fate of the universe is once more secured. But the climax wouldn't be the climax without a major turning point for the protagonist. In this case, everything starts to go downhill, starting with the super depressing death of Balder.
Falling Action
Is This the Real Life? Is This Just Fantasy?
The falling action is when the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist unravels, so in this case it's everything that leads to Cameron's one-on-one with the Wizard of Reckoning, which parallels his final moments of life. We get one more moment of final suspense when we wonder whether it's actually possible for Cam to live, but then Libby Bray rips our hearts out of our chests and throws it to the wolves to devour.
Resolution
What Dreams May Come
Cameron dies, so if you were holding out for a happy ending this is as good as it gets: The resolution has him meeting his love, Dulcie, in a sort of holding area before she takes him into the afterlife. As readers, we are left with a sense of bittersweet finality. Roll credits backed by a heart-wrenching orchestral score, and pass the tissues already.