Incompatible plot points

[cypher_lee]

Ok, i've come to the point in my wip where the initial creative rush has fizzled out, and now i'm left to figure out what the hell goes on in the middle.

The problem is, i have too many different plot points and events that could all possibly follow what i have already written, i just don't know which one to follow. I have a carefully laid out mythology and backstory and now i also have some incredibly exciting plotting that, unfortunately, disregards all my well laid foundations.

How do you guys deal with the situation of having too many plot choices and what do u do to push ahead?

[James D. Macdonald]

Do something interesting. Something that opens possibilities. Something that makes the characters uncomfortable.

Just pick a thing, and do it. You'll find out later whether it was "right," when you see if you get a finished book out the far end.

If the most interesting line contradicts your worldbuilding and mythology -- rewrite the mythology and build a different world.

[DamaNegra]

Choose the plotline you think has the most potential, then use that plotline to make things complicated for your characters, so to speak. That sometimes works for me.

[SusanR]

Interesting question. I've just learned something about middle muddles this week, thanks in part to thoughtful posts of many here.

I've been feeling as if I were a juggler with just too many balls in the air, or a weaver with a complex pattern who lost the thread that holds it all together.

What I did to get control of the balls was to stop thinking linearly, and stop writing the damned story in actual page sequence. I was so stuck, I just wrote a scene without knowing exactly where it would fit in with the rest. I wrote a crackling, pivotal scene that opened up the sequence for me such that I can now see all the way home, to novel's end.

I think what happened is that I didn't know precisely what that point-of-no-return scene should be, nor where it should go. I didn't know how to get to it from the muddled middle. So I didn't worry about to get there, I just wrote it, and the writing itself showed me how it must be fit in. Click!

Maybe that would work for you. Just write the most dramatic, exciting, compelling scene you can imagine, and then figure out to get from where you left off to that great scene.

SusanR

[Jamesaritchie]

Ok, i've come to the point in my wip where the initial creative rush has fizzled out, and now i'm left to figure out what the hell goes on in the middle.

The problem is, i have too many different plot points and events that could all possibly follow what i have already written, i just don't know which one to follow. I have a carefully laid out mythology and backstory and now i also have some incredibly exciting plotting that, unfortunately, disregards all my well laid foundations.

How do you guys deal with the situation of having too many plot choices and what do u do to push ahead?

Follow the exciting plot. Exciting is good. Even well-laid foundations can be rebuilt, but exciting is hard to find.

[maestrowork]

Pick the unexpected, unconventional, exciting, full-of-conflict... and see where it takes you.

[zeprosnepsid]

Follow everyone's advice and just write it. When I hit the middle of my WIP I had the same problem, I wrote what I thought was interesting but it didn't work. So I ripped it out and started the middle over again (second time was a charm). It's a process, obviously. But I don't know if there's better advice than to go with 'what feels right'. Think of yourself as a reader -- which avenue would be most interesting to you? You won't know if it's the right decision until you get into it.

[katee]

I've just chucked 70 pages of middle and have started again, because the story just wasn't zinging. I was agonising over when to introduce what characters, what had to happen in which order, etc.

In the end, I just made a decision and went with it. I figure, if it's the wrong decision, I'll just repeat until I find the right one. (It's my first novel after all, mistakes are expected!)

So far, for me, introducing a minor character earlier and beefing up his role in the story has opened up a whole different set of possibilities - and a much more interesting story. I'm so excited about this new direction that I woke up at 1am last night and jotted down 7 pages of handwritten notes.

[zornhau]

Chose the strongest. Wrap bits of the others around it.

[WriterInChains]

When I have this kind of decision to make, I choose the path that either excites or scares me the most (usually #2). I don't write horror, but I'm not the only writer I know who has a hard time interpreting their fight or flight instinct. http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif

Break a leg!