The Muddle in the Middle

Cara Lynn James

When I start a new novel, I know what the story is about and I have a good idea about how it will end. For me, the first three chapters are the fastest to write because I’m enthusiastic about my characters and my plot. Everything seems fresh and doable. Even though the ending might be a little foggy at first, I’m always confident things will clear up somewhere before the Black Moment in Act 3. I never worry about the ending. By the time I finish the middle section, I know my characters well enough to understand what should happen to them.

My major problem has always been the middle, what needs to happen there and how do I keep it from sagging? It’s a really long way from Act 1 to Act 3 and you just can’t expand the beginning and the end enough to have them meet in the middle. No, you have to write Act 2 and keep the reader hooked so she doesn’t put the book down or throw it in the corner. This can be a difficult section to write. It’s long and often feels endless, with about the same number of words as the beginning and the ending combined.

I know where I’m going but I often don’t have a clue about how to get there. Where should I put the first kiss? Does it really matter where it goes? At what point should the hero and heroine grow close enough to confide their deepest feelings to each other? I’ve read plenty of books on plotting and I should know how to answer all the questions I have. Yet somehow the muddled middle seems vague and always a huge challenge to conquer before I arrive at Act 3.

The hero and heroine are also confused and lost at this point. Their lives are changing and they have many things to learn about themselves and each other as they move forward.   

In Act 2, the heroine has challenges and choices she has to make which are determined by her values and goals. These will have both consequences and obstacles. The road through the middle is never straight or smooth, but that’s what makes it interesting and keeps us reading. Disappointments and Y’s in the road (and how the characters deal with them) cause us to turn the pages as fast as we can and sometimes ‘force’ us to stay up half the night reading.

I recently discovered Conversations with a Writing Coach by Susan May Warren. It really helped me take the muddle out of the middle. She divided all the elements needed in this section into four easy parts.

Act 2

Part 1: The Attempt and Failure of the Goal

The character’s GMC — goal, motivation and conflict — is worked into the beginning of the story in Act 1.

But in the second act the hero discovers attaining his goal isn’t as quick and easy as he expected it would be. He fails to reach his goal at least once and that failure makes everything worse. He’s now worried about the possibility he might not reach his goal. He’ll get discouraged and wonder if he really wants to go on this journey after all. If he doesn’t have the gumption to continue, his story ends prematurely.

So the writer ensures his hero has fortitude and determination, qualities we expect to see in a hero.

Part 2: Cost and Consideration and Rewards

In this part of the story, the character changes. Right after she fails her first attempt to reach her goal, she realizes she’ll have to regroup, and take a good look at her weaknesses and realize the truth. If she wants to reach her goal, she’ll have to change. If her goal is worth fighting for, it’s going to cost something she doesn’t want to give up.

Give her time to reflect on what character change will cost her. Have it be extremely important to her, even brutal, something that is a true sacrifice.

Remember, if the goal and the sacrifice aren’t very important to the heroine, they won’t be to the reader either.

Now that she has made a first attempt and failed, and you’ve given her a glimpse of what it will cost to succeed, she has to see past the Costs to the Rewards. She must believe she can achieve her goal and it will be worth it despite the difficulties getting there.

This is a wonderful spot for the heroine to put her trust in the Lord and ask him for guidance and strength. She realizes reaching her goal might very well be too difficult, or even impossible, to attain all on her own.

Seeing the costs and rewards will make her look inside herself, to ask why the reward is worth fighting for. She’ll question the strength of her motivation. If it’s not strong enough, then the story will come to an abrupt and unsatisfying end. The heroine has to believe her attempt and cost is worth the struggle. A heroine doesn’t give up at the first challenge or roadblock she encounters.

Part 3: The Man in the Mirror

Just how much is the heroine willing to pay to reach her goal or dream? When she tries to balance the cost against the reward, the heroine will discover the crux of her hero’s journey and her true desire.

She has to decide if her goal is her own or if it’s someone else’s goal for her. Maybe she’s a ‘go along to get along’ kind of woman. Her well-meaning but misguided mother may be setting the agenda. Or the heroine might not want to cross a manipulative acquaintance who might be vengeful.

So she has to look deep inside herself to understand what she really and truly wants or needs and not let herself by swayed by others who don’t have her best interests at heart. She knows her own mind and heart, they don’t.

This is where true change begins to take place. It’s all about the person she wants to be. When a character looks inward and asks, “Who am I? Am I willing to change to get what I desire?” then we begin to see true change.

After the heroine takes a good look at herself and what she wants, she will try to reach her goal again. This takes a lot of courage. But now you’ll let her succeed in her quest, just enough to give her a taste of victory. She feels like she’s accomplished something and this gives her confidence to continue on her journey. This happens in about the middle of the second act.
Part 4: Training for Battle

The hero will suffer through a number of tests such as interpersonal challenges, maybe even physical challenges. He’ll encounter obstacles that are difficult to overcome, physically, emotionally or mentally. Again, he’ll look inside himself and learn to adapt to change and conquer the barriers to his goal which he encounters through out the middle of the story.

Follow these principles: Every obstacle the hero faces must make the journey more difficult, causing him to dig deeper. He’ll find a character trait he didn’t have before. He’ll get better at the new skills he’s learning.

Each time the hero improves his skills, he becomes more of the person he wants to be, and he has a glimmer of hope. So give him a glimpse of something he longs for. Let him kiss the girl. (Now I know where to add a kiss!)

When the hero and heroine feel empowered and on their way to victory, you’ll pull the rug out from under them.

And that brings them into Act 3, the final act. But since they’ve grown and matured and developed important skills, they’ll be prepared to face the problems that lay ahead. 

Let's talk about your Speedbo project. How's your middle coming along? 




I’d like to give one commenter a $10.00 gift certificate to Starbucks. Winner announced in the Weekend Edition.

             

This Week's Speedbo incentive includes a Kindle Fire! Details here.

Battling Through Your Manuscript … One Scene at a Time

Missy Tippens

www.missytippens.com

Photo credit: Bigstock/Yastremska

Have you hit a wall? Do you often get to Chapter 4 or Chapter 5 and say, “What in the world is going to happen now????” Are you at the midpoint of Speedbo (the Seekerville book-in-a-month writing challenge) and having a moment of panic, wondering where your story is supposed to go?

I’ve been there with you, and I’m going to give you two methods that have helped me battle through.

1.   Mine Your GMC Chart

If you’re stuck trying to figure out what’s going to happen in your next scenes and chapters, go back and take a peek at your Goal, Motivation and Conflict Chart (for more information, check out Debra Dixon’s book, Goal, Motivation and Conflict: The Building Blocks of Good Fiction). If you haven’t already considered your characters’ GMC, then take some time to figure this out. I’ve already done a couple of posts on this (Click here and here.) Also, Tina once shared an example of her chart on her white board, so you can take a peek at that (click here.)

So once you have your chart, look at each block on the chart. Brainstorm scene ideas that have to do with that particular block, scenes that will show that particular aspect of the character.

I thought I’d share an example. Below is my GMC chart and scene ideas cut and pasted directly out of my brainstorming file for the book that became The Doctor’s Second Chance from Love Inspired. (note: I = Internal and E=External, G = Goal, M = Motivation and C = Conflict)

***

Example: GMC Chart for The Doctor’s Second Chance

(This changed a little while writing the full book and after critique.)

Jake:

EG—Work hard and play hard

EM—he’s enjoying his freedom; he deserves to have some fun after the responsibility that was thrust on him from a young age (parents’ death and aunt and uncle who worked all the time leaving him with brat cousin)

EC—Cousin Remy has dumped a baby on him (and he goes back into responsible mode)

Int need: secure family unit of his own

IM—deep need for security/belonging/connection

IC—He doesn’t believe that it’s possible so tries to act like it’s not important (instead goes for freedom and living in the moment—even dangerously)

Violet:

EG—build her new practice and take care of children

EM—she didn’t like impersonal large city practice/clinic and felt rootless

EC—it’s a small town where everyone knows everyone, and she’s an outsider so business is not picking up like she’d planned.

Int need: connection

IG: Have kids by doctoring in a small town community

IM: she gave up a child for adoption and thinks she’ll never have her own (thinks she doesn’t deserve it)

IC: She really does want her own but is afraid to risk loving (maybe harbors bitterness toward parents who made her feel worthless for her huge mistake. Needs to forgive and let go to get rid of the bitterness)

Scene ideas:

Jake

EG—Work hard and play hard (although this is really a lie—he’s just a hard worker, and has always felt he needed to earn his way)

Scenes that show him working

Gets asked to go camping but can’t. Asked to go skydiving but can’t (first inkling of having someone to care about besides himself)

Show in charge and strong in his job/contrast with lack of confidence with baby

EM—he’s enjoying his freedom; he deserves to have some fun after the responsibility that was thrust on him from a young age

Discussion with Remy so we know he took care of her

Comment from someone at church about him always being responsible

Scene where he realizes the baby is like him—“deserted” by parents

EC—Remy has dumped a baby on him (and he goes back into responsible mode)

Opening scene

Scenes where it’s difficult to get work done

Fish out of water scenes

Int need: secure family unit of his own

Flashbacks/dialogue where we hear of him missing parents and family of his own—especially when Remy resented him.

Showing him realizing he likes time with Violet and baby better than skydiving or time outdoors with friends (it gets easier to turn down offers of fun adventure)

IM—security/belonging/connection

Realizes Violet is filling needs he didn’t know he had

Doesn’t feel like the 5^th wheel with her

IC—He doesn’t believe that it’s possible so tries to act like it’s not important (instead goes for freedom and living in the moment—even dangerously)

Scene where he’s scared of how close he feels to Violet; feels vulnerable and doesn’t like it. Says he doesn’t need that closeness or someone to know him and makes plans to go skydiving, which V doesn’t like. (or does something else against her wishes on purpose to push her away)

Violet:

EG—build her new practice and take care of children

She agrees to help Jake just because she’s helping a baby

She checks up on Abigail, worries for her

Tells him she did not rip off his family—tells him he doesn’t know details

Begins to ask patients to spread the word that she’s good

EM—she didn’t like impersonal large city practice/clinic and felt rootless

Show her enjoying small town life—she sees advantages of being known, appreciates that others know her business

Goes to church and meets people; show first time she goes out and someone recognizes her, making her feel good

EC—it’s a small town where everyone knows everyone, and she’s an outsider so business is not picking up like she’d planned.

Show her going to church and no one really knows her; she’s an outsider

People call her Doc, but she realizes they don’t really know her at all; there’s no one around who knows her likes and dislikes or about her past; they don’t know Violet

Int need: connection

She has struggled and fought her way through medical school and now has trouble opening up and being vulnerable with new friends

Scene where she meets a new friend—in lab, Darcy, gets to know her better, feels she’s actually met a friend (could meet over the winning of the auction)

First time she attends church since the auction—a few people remember her by that. It’s a small sense of connection

She remembers that one time she went and decides to go back because of connection of the auction. It’s her only tie other than work.

IG: Have kids by doctoring in a small town community

Show her bonding with a patient; child reaches for her, which warms her heart. This could actually happen at church or in town so Jake witnesses it.

IM: she gave up a child for adoption and thinks she’ll never have her own (thinks she doesn’t deserve it)

Scene with Remy, can relate to feeling she’s not worthy.

IC: She really does want her own (family/child) but is afraid to risk loving

Scene where fear over loving Jake makes her want to give up

Realizes she needs to call parents and make effort to heal

Goes to see parents, takes Jake/baby for moral support

****

As you can see, I got a lot of scene ideas just from mining my GMC chart! If you’ve read the book, you may recognize some of these ideas that became scenes. (If you haven’t read it and want to, here’s a link! :))

2.   Know the Middle … And Then Aim for It

I love James Scott Bell’s book Write Your Novel From the Middle: A New Approach for Plotters, Pantsers and Everyone in Between. Since I bought the book, I’ve read it each time I’m plotting a new story to help with the scene ideas. (BTW, it’s a short book.) I’ve found that deciding on the mirror moment in the middle gives me something to aim for once I get past the opening chapters. So no more sagging middle! The basic premise of Bell’s how-to book is that once you know your mirror moment in the middle, that moment when the character takes a hard look at himself and wonders what kind of person he is, what he will do to overcome his inner challenges, then you can go forward to figure out the pre-story psychology or go backward to figure out how the character transforms by the end. Knowing this middle scene will help all the scenes have unity. And like I said, for me, it gives me something to aim for.

I thought I’d share another example. Again, this is from my brainstorming notes, directly cut and pasted, for the story that became The Doctor’s Second Chance. (Spoiler alert! I give away a lot here, all stuff I figured out before I finished writing the book.)

***

Example: Midpoint Brainstorming for The Doctor’s Second Chance

Story Question:

Will Jake be able to take care of this newborn and locate his cousin before Violet gets the court involved? Can Violet fulfill her goal of helping children without falling in love with the baby…and with Jake? Or might the two of them discover that family comes in all shapes and sizes?

Mid-point mirror moment:

Jake: Is there really such thing as a secure family…this ideal little family bubble? For me? And if so, do I dare go for it? What if it got taken away? Show him taking a risky step: asking her out on a date. It’s a concrete move toward making them a unit.

Violet: Do I deserve to be happy? Can I really move forward and let go of the past? Show her admitting some weakness to him. Maybe she shares about rift with her family (but not why), how she’s felt she has to do everything herself. And then she opens up with how she needs him somehow (maybe she needs him to support her in town, by letting people know his opinion of her has changed). [but I’d kind of like him to do this on his own, and she discovers he’s done it because he cares. So maybe she doesn’t ask him to do that. Maybe she just opens up and shares her hurts.]

Pre-story psychology:

Jake: Parents died, “abandoning” him. Aunt and uncle took him in but he always felt he needed to be good for them to keep him. That “being good” alienated his cousin, so he never felt part of the family. His aunt and uncle worked a lot, and he got stuck trying to keep Remy out of trouble since he felt like her destructive behavior was probably his fault. Once she ran off, he felt a sense of relief, of freedom. Has been working hard so he can play and enjoy that freedom. Thinks he has just what he wants. The baby being dropped on him limits that freedom, and he feels that renewed sense of guilt, as if he does owe her. Plus, he’s just naturally responsible.

Violet: Parents were socialites, valued what others thought of them, worried about appearances. Were often gone, lots of baby sitters. She fell for a guy who needed her, and got pregnant. Parents insisted she give up for adoption, would not consider helping her keep baby, claiming she couldn’t give up her lifelong goal to be a doctor. But she felt they were more worried about how it would make them look. She resented them. No relationship since, even though they’ve tried and dad has apologized (mom insists it was best for everyone). She has been independent, putting herself through school and medical school. Feels she was weak and failed her child. Decided she would help other children by becoming pediatrician. Didn’t like large clinic and impersonal medicine. Bought small town clinic to be part of patients’ lives.

Transformation:

How can I show it?

Both have had ideals of the perfect family that they never had. Have to learn to let go of that. Have to accept a new picture of what family means to them now that God has brought them together, and to let go of fear of the rug being yanked out from under them. Must learn to trust God instead of themselves (what I’m learning now).

Jake: In the beginning, he’s still trying to be responsible and take care of others, finding it hard to ask for help. Connection is out of a sense of duty rather than out of love. Needs to extend love. Needs to accept love freely given. He doesn’t have to earn the right to be part of a family.

To show his transformation…He’ll ask her to be his family (scary and risky but worth it). And he’ll ask it even while she’s still acting cool toward him, so it’s even riskier. He’ll do it with God’s strength (when he is weak, God is strong).

Violet: In the beginning, she’s independent and all business, only willing to reach out for the good of the child. She feels driven to work to deserve anything good that comes to her. She’s driving herself, fighting her nature to want closeness and family. She learns she doesn’t have to work hard to earn happiness just because of her past. Needs to accept love freely given. She is worthy of love, because God loves her just as she is.

Or maybe what she thought she needed was control over her life when what she really needed was to give up control, to just accept love.

To show her transformation…she’ll sleep in past sunrise. (maybe in epilogue? On honeymoon?)

****

So you can see how I started by figuring out the middle. Then I backed up to figure out some backstory and scenes that will show it. Then I figured out how to concretely show the ending of the story with my characters in a new place emotionally.

I hope sharing my methods helps some of you! If you’re stuck, try brainstorming using these two methods. Come up with as many ideas as you can. You most likely won’t use them all, but you may find some nuggets that you end up loving! And at least you can keep moving forward on your first draft, even if you change some of it later.

Do these methods resonate with you? Share your brainstorming ideas or what you do when you get stuck. I’ll be giving away a fun spring tote bag and a wonderful spring floral sachet to one commenter. Just let me know you’d like to be entered. If you’re sensitive to fragrances but are interested in the tote bag, never fear! When I get the winner’s contact information, I’ll ask before sending the sachet. :) [Just ask Vince about the sachet! He won one from me before and they could smell it while approaching the mailbox! LOL]

Missy Tippens, a pastor’s wife and mom of three from near Atlanta, Georgia, made her first sale to Harlequin Love Inspired in 2007. Her books have since been nominated for the Booksellers Best, ACFW Carol Award, Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, Maggie Award, Beacon Contest and a 2013 RT Reviewer’s Choice Award. A House Full of Hope was a Romance Writers of America 2013 RITA^® Nominee. Her recent releases include The Doctor’s Second Chance from Love Inspired, and A Heart Full of Christmas, an Indie published boxed set with fellow Seekerville bloggers. Visit Missy at www.missytippens.com, https://twitter.com/MissyTippens and

http://www.facebook.com/missy.tippens.readers

No More Sagging Middle

    

No More Sagging Middle

By Denise Hunter

It’s no secret to my writer friends that my least favorite part of writing happens during the middle of the book. The beginning of a story is fun and exciting, isn’t it? You’re introducing intriguing characters, heightened conflict, and attention-grabbing situations.

And then it happens. You officially arrive at the dreaded middle. There’s nothing happening. Your momentum has stalled, and your characters sit there staring at you, twiddling their thumbs.

They don’t call it the sagging middle for nothing, folks. If you’re not careful, that baby will sag so low you’ll be tempted to Select All and Delete. Or at the very least, whine to your critique partner that you’re in the middle of your worst book ever, and your career is over. (Sound familiar, Colleen Coble?) Sagging middles tend to happen when a writer begins to carelessly string together a series of events.

Tip number one: start your novel with a conflict strong enough to give those dominos a good, hard shove. In Falling Like Snowflakes Eden is on the run with her five-year-old son when her car breaks down in Summer Harbor, Maine—and the first domino falls. When her backpack—along with all her money—is stolen, it sets off a chain of events. Her escape will have to be put on hold. She has immediate needs: a job to pay for the car repairs and shelter from the winter storm. Eden is experiencing serious trouble. She has a child to protect, not a dime to her name, and danger is snipping at her heels.

 Tip number two: don’t just settle for the next scene that comes to mind. Give it some thought. Come up with five or ten ideas, and choose the one that excites you most. The easiest way to prevent the sagging middle is to create a domino effect. It’s just as it sounds. Create a conflict that pushes the next domino down. If the conflict isn’t strong enough to push the next one down, make it stronger or change it altogether. It might be helpful to think in terms of cause and effect. Each choice she makes or each thing that happens to her has a consequence. Think How is this scene going to effect my protagonist? What reaction is this going to cause? If the reaction is daydreaming by a window while sipping Earl Grey tea, it’s not the right scene. You can do better! At the very least, have your protagonist flesh out her feelings in dialogue with someone else. Maybe that friend will say something that pushing the next domino.

Tip number three: don’t give up all the good back-story in the first chapter! Doing so robs the reader of that page-turning frenzy to find answers. And how does this help with the sagging middle? Doling out back-story in careful doses keeps the reader (and the writer) interested. In Falling Like Snowflakes, tidbits about Eden’s past are parceled out like breadcrumbs along a winding path. The reader—and the hero—don’t find out what Eden is running from until almost the halfway point. And when the hero finds out, it changes everything for him. Another huge domino has just been pushed over as he tries to figure out how he’s going to protect Eden.

Think of those dominos all the way through the book. If the conflict isn’t strong enough to rock the next domino, make it worse. Make something happen. Something bad. What is your protagonist’s worst fear? Make it happen. At the worst time possible. Be mean. It’s fiction; you’re allowed. Is there a devastating secret she’s keeping? Is someone she loves keeping a secret from her? Let it come out at the worst possible time.

Keep the conflicts coming. Keep the dominos falling, and your readers won’t be able to turn the pages fast enough. Your protagonist will grow, your reader will experience the vicarious thrill of victory, and you won’t have a middle that sags to the floor. 

GIVEAWAY: 

           Leave a comment for Denise, and we'll toss your name in the hat to win a copy of her latest novel, Falling Like Snowflakes! Here's more about it:

           Eden Martelli is too busy fleeing the clutches of danger to realize she’s running straight into the arms of a new love. Beau will go to the ends of the earth to keep her safe. But who’s going to protect his heart from a woman who can’t seem to trust again?

Read first 5 chapters of Falling Like Snowflakes here: 

https://bookgrabbr.com/books/3546-falling-like-snowflakes

BONUS CONTEST!
Win a $200 Southwest Gift Card! Denise’s new book “Falling Like Snowflakes” is in airport book stores so we’re playing I Spy! If you’re flying in November, play along and have a chance at winning this great prize! Follow the directions in the graphic to be entered.
 

ABOUT DENISE HUNTER:

 Denise Hunter fights her sagging middles in Indiana, the setting of her most recent book Falling Like Snowflakes. She is the internationally published bestselling author of more than 27 books. She has won The Holt Medallion Award, The Reader's Choice Award, The Foreword Book of the Year Award, and is a RITA finalist.

Denise writes emotionally gripping, small-town love stories. Her readers enjoy the experience of falling in love vicariously through her characters and can expect a happily-ever-after sigh as they close the pages of her books.

In 1996, inspired by the death of her grandfather, Denise began her first book, writing while her children napped. Two years later it was published, and she’s been writing ever since.