Turns out, looking at it and thinking about it some more, I didn't hit the climax early. That wasn't the climax, it was the second pinch point. Which is supposed to resonate emotionally and be this Big Huge Thing for the character--for example, the loss of a mentor. So now I've written that Scene, and I'm working on the Sequel to it.
And that means I'm meandering toward the Resolution, which means I may have to bring in yet another character with a Bigger Gun and a Worse Grudge. Like, say, the mother of the brothers that my protag killed. And that means I need to think a bit more on what my magic system is actually like beyond "they managed to turn my protag into a werewolf without even being in the same room with him." Because how they did that will tie into how we fix it (for certain values of "fixing," because I'm a horrible person, but you knew that), and will tie into my Final Confrontation at the end.
WRITING IS HARD.
And that means I'm meandering toward the Resolution, which means I may have to bring in yet another character with a Bigger Gun and a Worse Grudge. Like, say, the mother of the brothers that my protag killed. And that means I need to think a bit more on what my magic system is actually like beyond "they managed to turn my protag into a werewolf without even being in the same room with him." Because how they did that will tie into how we fix it (for certain values of "fixing," because I'm a horrible person, but you knew that), and will tie into my Final Confrontation at the end.
WRITING IS HARD.