Working the Muddle Out of Your Middle

Cheryl St.John is the author of thirty Harlequin and Silhouette books. Her first book, RAIN SHADOW was nominated for RWA’s RITA for Best First Book, by Romantic Times for Best Western Historical, and by Affaire de Coeur readers as Best American Historical Romance. Her 2005 HH, HIS SECONDHAND WIFE, earned another RITA nod. HH LAND OF DREAMS, SSE THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, and HH PRAIRIE WIFE each won RT’s Reviewers Choice Awards.

Cheryl has one of the liveliest blogs around. Jokes, videos, books she loves, recipes. She's a master at making a quick stop at http://cherylstjohn.blogspot.com/ worth while. She also lets me be involved with all the other western authors at Petticoats and Pistols, where we just kicked off our new Stetson and Spurs contest. My book gets to hang around with Cheryl's Rita nominated book!!! There's a picture of the goodies we're giving away at the end of this post. http://www.petticoatsandpistols.com/

Working the Muddle Out of Your Middle
Cheryl St.John

Have you ever reached the middle of a book and:
Lost energy and drive?
Didn’t have enough story?
Had too much story?
Realized someone has done this before?

It’s normal to feel some frustration at this stage. Don’t feel helpless or that you’ve lost your talent. Your talent doesn’t up and desert you because a certain scene or chapter or even an entire book is difficult to write.

The middle follows from the beginning -- the part where your characters’ motivations were established, their goals were set in place, and where your character decided to go after what he wanted or to fight for something he believed in or to reach a destination or to prevent something from happening. You’ve been busy juggling backstory with characterization and conflict, getting it all just so. You’ve done all that and now you feel like you’re floundering.

Stop. Take a deep breath. The middle is simply a series of events, scenes and sequels that get your character from the beginning of the book to the end. Sound simple? It is, really. But it can also be intimidating. Daunting if you let yourself get caught up in the muddle.

I’ve forgotten What It Was About This Story That Excited Me
You’ve just figured out who these people are! You might need to go back to the beginning and adjust for that. But don’t go back and get bogged down in rewriting the beginning because you can’t seem to go forward from the middle. Yes, you can. Stop whining.

How many people do you know who have never moved past the beginning of their first book? What is stopping them? Lack of confidence. Fear of failure. Fear of success. Laziness. Writing a book is hard work. Maybe they didn’t plan the book well enough in advance and there really is nowhere to go now. They wrote a great first meet and everything was downhill from there.

Sure, go back and reread the beginning to recapture the initial excitement. Read the synopsis. Read over the notes you made and the character sketches, if any. Read all the way to where you’ve stalled, but then keep moving forward.

Finish the rough draft, if you don’t think it’s perfect; you can always go back and fix it.
You can fix junk, but you can’t fix nothing.

Be Convincing
Convince the reader to care about your story and your characters. Convince yourself. Use all the tools you’ve been given in the workshops you’ve attended and apply The Techniques of The Selling Writer. I always recommend Dwight Swain’s book. After thirty-some books, I still read it to refresh myself in the middle of the current WIP.

Trust Your Intuition
The more original the idea, the less self-doubt you will have and the more excitement you will retain. There was some wonderfully tantalizing tidbit that got you started on this story in the first place. Get back to that first love. Remember what that glimmer of excitement was and recreate it. You had a good enough idea to provoke you to write this story; don’t abandon it now.

If the story’s going flat--if it really has problems--now is the time to recognize them and inject some zing. Wherever your plot points are, you have something you’re springing from, and something you’re working toward. Keep those in mind. If you plot in thirds, then the middle is just past your first plot point, so you’ve got something to work from. Make sure that plot point was strong enough. If you plot in fourths, then this is time for a major change or new information to be revealed.

Time For A Change!
The halfway point is the place to change your character’s goals. Whatever they started out wanting should have changed direction by now--or they’ve come up with a new plan to get what they want.

Add a complication; make it look like your character won’t ever get what he/she wants. If the complication comes from an external source, make sure it feeds into the internal conflict.

Make the situation more critical. And remember your goal is conflict, not just delay. What can happen to turn things around? Well….
If your character is bluffing, call his bluff.
Have him make a wrong assumption.
Bring in new information that changes things.
Block a route of escape or set a plan awry.
Have someone befriend your character.
Have a friend turn against your character.
Make your character choose between two things he wants
or make choice between the lesser of two evils.
Someone thought to be missing or dead can show up.
Move forward with a plan that will hurt someone else.
A lie can be discovered.
Have something that would have helped your character reach his goal stolen.

Sluggish? Jump Start Your Story!
The middle has lost its shape? Jazzercise it!
Here are ideas to help when you’re stumped for where to go or how to add new life and energy:
Most useful for me: Make a list of 25 things that could happen. Don’t stop until all 25 lines are filled. Something about knowing you have to fill them all, sets your brain free.

If that didn’t spur you on, resort to any or all of these:
Write a short biography of the characters.
Write a monologue.
Write a scene with another character.
Write a dialogue “secret” told by a character.
Jump ahead and write a scene that you know.
Watch a movie. Note plot points and figure out why it worked for you.

Keep the Tension Strong
Keep the outcome in doubt.
Use a time limitation.
Give reader flashes of hope.
Change POV and leave a character’s fate hanging. (a suspense technique)

Middle Check-List
Double-check your story time-line.
Make sure your character’s opponent, whether it’s time or a villain or a situation is strong enough to be worthy of your focal character.
Is the conflict escalating through this section--things should be worse than they were to start with.
Make sure all complications feed into the main conflict
.
When looking for a complication, don’t think small! The more devastating for your character, the better the conflict. Say “No” to your character and say it big. The reader has to wonder how this situation will ever be resolved. Make every situation demand action, and see to it that your focal character reacts to every stimulus. The more dangerous the situation, the more likely the character is to take action. Don’t miss any reactions. Check whether or not there is a reaction for every event. If there isn’t, you probably don’t need the event.

A story is feelings. If your character doesn’t feel something about what was said or done, who will care? The reader identifies with the character, so the character must care, must feel, and must react. Everything that happens should be moving the story forward.

Remember external events have no meaning in themselves. They aid story development only if someone has feelings about them and reacts to them.

Did you leave a question or a decision at the end of each scene? At the end of each chapter? Did you leave the reader hanging? To keep the reader interested, you must show the uncertainty of the outcome.

Look at the point of view character in each middle scene and scrutinize whether or not the story would be more vivid from another viewpoint. Who has more to lose or gain? Is a fresh perspective needed?

Ask yourself why your character can’t just quit now. If he can, give him a reason to dig in and fight.
Play with Murphy’s Law.
Don’t confuse delay with complication/conflict.
Have you paid attention to pacing?
Is the tension high with adequate time to reflect? If not, punch it up.
Ask yourself in each scene, “What’s really the issue here? What’s at stake?”
Have enough at stake for each character that they have to fight.
Force continuing adjustments: move/counter move.
Keep boxing your character in, narrowing his radius of action, until he’s forced to make a choice between two specific concrete alternatives.

Grow Up!
It’s important to show character growth through this section of the book. Your character can’t simply have a last minute unmotivated come-to-realize in the last chapter and suddenly realize the error of his ways and recognize that he’s in love and solve a mystery and propose. You need to show him coming to this place of realization in increments. Create scenes that show your character making progress toward these changes.

Think Smaller
If the middle of the book intimidates you, think “smaller”. We’re conditioned to think big, but this is one time when thinking smaller can be beneficial. Focus on just this scene, just this chapter--concentrate on the immediate story, and don’t look to the rest of the book looming ahead of you. You’ll get there eventually; looking ahead at the size of the project can unnerve you.

Have you ever had a long way to drive or walk or carry something and looking ahead made it look like you’d never get there? Writing a book is like walking a long distance. You can do it if you place one foot in front of the other and focus on the here and now. Looking ahead at the goal in the distance can make it seem like you’ll never get there.

Self-doubt comes into play here, probably more than at any time during the duration of your story. Why did I ever think I could do this? How will I ever have enough story to fill 300 pages? How will I ever fit everything on these cards into 300 pages? I’ve forgotten what it was about this story that excited me.

You can see why a narrow focus can be useful at this stage. So stay focused and remember to incorporate change. Don’t stand still--keep moving, and one page at a time, you’ll move through the middle toward the end.

Start thinking about the loose threads you’re going to tie up. Plan toward the end, weaving your plot threads, preparing for which ones you’ll tie off first. Make a list and check them off to watch your progress.

And here’s something to think about: Just because a technique worked for you last time, doesn’t mean it will work every time. Be flexible. Don’t be hard on yourself. Allow yourself to change and grow. And just because a technique works for someone else, doesn’t mean it will work for you. We’re as different in our writing methods as we are in dress and beliefs and personalities. Allow yourself to find the methods that work for you and then allow yourself to deviate from them to keep yourself fresh.

Keep helpful notes at hand to look over. Share your frustration with a writer friend. But then move on. Doggedly. Tenaciously. One page at a time will get you to The End.
I promise.