This month I want to talk about the middle part of a novel.  When writing a novel it’s the middle that seems to create a stumbling block for most writers.  Why?  Because this is the heart of the story and either you’ve given too much information in the beginning and have little left to tell, or you can’t think of anything else to help your characters along.  In the beginning your character has a problem with a goal to reach, which starts a fight between desire and danger, yet it’s the middle segment that makes the reader stick with the story to the end.

A story has to be paced.  Think of this in terms of a day.  The sun rises, the daylight passes, the sun sets.  This is one day broken down into three parts.  It is the same with a novel; there is the beginning, the middle and the end.  So why is it the middle seems to cause so much trouble?  After all it’s the body of your story, the part that details the ebb and flow of conflict.  The middle carries your main character forward to the moment of decision, which started the beginning of your story’s end.  A story is carried by scenes and sequels, and the middle part is where these elements are most effectively used.

When the middle sags use a plot point to get it going again.  A plot point (as we’ve discussed in earlier columns) is a change in the character’s circumstance that has to send them forward, because they can’t go backward.  Change intervenes and forces the character to adjust and strive toward their goal.  Change is from one state of affair to another and from one state of mind to another.  Change must take place continuously for your story to forge ahead toward the end.  Without change the story grows boring and so will the reader.

An example I’ve used before is a western that a reader claimed had no plot points.  When I broke the scene down for her she then understood change.  The main character was a bachelor cowboy who was riding the stage.  On the way two orphans were found along side the road and the cowboy took on the responsibility of caring for them.  So the plot point here?  The cowboy’s life changed the day he took on the kids.  He couldn’t go back to the freedom of a single cowboy, or go where he wanted by himself.  Now he had two kids to think about.  Something that changes your main character to the point they can’t go back to what was before, but pushes them into another direction…this is change.  Emotions and conflict follow change.

There are three questions to ask when the middle parts of the story bogs down:

1. Where is this scene and story going?
2. What change will help it get there?
3. How will each character react to such a change?

The difference between the beginning of a story and the end lies in the fact the reader and main character have gained information in the course of events they’ve encountered.

The middle of the story should give issue as to whether desire will defeat danger:  Will your main character reach their goal or won’t they? (Not to be confused with the black moment). The middle is where you increase tension and excitement for the reader.

The middle is where you build to a climax by increasing pressure on your main character.  Bring the character up against the opposition with conflict.  Pack your scenes with significant action, increase pressure, foreshadow your story’s ending, and create a sense of balance in the peaks and valley’s of the story.

Collapsing with disaster at the end of middle of the story leads into the black moment and then into a climatic build-up and satisfying ending to the novel.