Middle of the Novel Issues

SusanR · Nov 25, 2005

Ok, so I'm writing what I think will be a long, complex novel, and I'm approaching the peak of the rising action. The problems are intensifying for my main characters, the situations will soon be at their most bleak, hopeless, and dangerous. The seeds I've planted in the beginning have all sprouted, and it's a dark, rich rain forest.

And I feel a bit overwhelmed, lost in this jungle of my own creation.

Yes, I have an outline, but it's rough, consisting of my original and ongoing notions of what must happen so that I can get from my opening to the climax and resolution.

Since this is my first novel, I'm wondering if anybody can relate to this experience. Writing the middle seems much harder than writing the beginning, and I imagine harder than writing the end, which must go as I first envisioned. (I started out with the beginning and end firmly in mind, and tried to lay out some stepping-stones--scenes--like a path through the woods.)

And it's much slower-going, too. I'm getting about 2-3 standard pages a day on average.

Would you please care to share your experience of mid-novel challenges? Any thoughts on how to work with these issues from those more experienced would be most welcome. Thanks!

SusanR

jules · Nov 25, 2005

I find that if I slow down a lot in the middle of a novel, it usually means that something is wrong somewhere. Often I'll look at what I'm writing and find that I'm working on scenes that are bogged down in small detail, perhaps they lack conflict or perhaps I'm pushing the characters in a direction that is wrong for them.

The approach I took last time this happened to me was to take a couple of days off to get some distance, then read over the last 50 pages. I noticed a lot of things that needed editing, and I tightened up the story a lot. After that, things were easier.

henriette · Nov 25, 2005

susan, i can totally relate!

i'm about 2/3 through my first draft, and it's almost killing me. i know where it needs to go...but it's difficult getting through some of the necessary scenes.

i've been skipping scenes i'm not "feeling" and moving on to scenes that come naturally. but i worry that i'm doing myself a disservice by leaving big gaping holes that i'll have to fill in later. *sigh*

i wonder if the trepidation stems from the fact that the story is turning darker and darker, which causes me to delve deep into the scary corners of my brain on a regular basis. maybe i'm slowing down because my body has sense memory and doesn't want to go into these dark places.

who knows. i must say it is truly a fascinating process.

TheGaffer · Nov 25, 2005

I'm with ya

Yep. Agreed.

The ending and beginning are and were relatively easy. The first page, of course, was very easy -- it's where the "problem" that the protagonist (and the writer) has to solve is introduced. And the ending, too -- in fact, I wrote my climax not long after writing my beginning. Since my biggest problem in the past whenever I tried to write was sustaining things past page 30, I figured I'd write page 1 and page 350 and then try to connect the two.

And I'm in the middle of the third draft now and that action in the middle is getting better and better. I'm tightening things, adding connectors, making it clear how the main character gets from point to point by the actions he's taking, not just the events that are happening to/around him.

For what it's worth, I don't write linear. I write what's in my head - big impact moments, the climax, detailed conversations, whatever. And I find a way to connect them with the transitory action, which is most of the middle of the book. It's hard. And yes, I had to go back and write the transitions which for a long time were represented with "He goes to the Hotel" or other such brilliant statements. (Or even, "FILL THIS IN LATER.") The first time through, my main dude had most of the things happening to him - and figured out the answers by dumb luck, mostly. That improved after the second draft and will improve again after the third draft.

I agree that it's the hardest part to write. The beginning has all your hopes and inspiration loaded into it and the ending is your big flourish. Until then, well, it's, "What now?"

Just keep pushing. Write it and write it again. Eliminate or add characters. If it's getting too weighty step back and look again in a week and maybe you'll see something there that wasn't there before; things that need to be changed.

Good luck!

Jamesaritchie · Nov 25, 2005

SusanR said:
Ok, so I'm writing what I think will be a long, complex novel, and I'm approaching the peak of the rising action. The problems are intensifying for my main characters, the situations will soon be at their most bleak, hopeless, and dangerous. The seeds I've planted in the beginning have all sprouted, and it's a dark, rich rain forest.

And I feel a bit overwhelmed, lost in this jungle of my own creation.

Yes, I have an outline, but it's rough, consisting of my original and ongoing notions of what must happen so that I can get from my opening to the climax and resolution.

Since this is my first novel, I'm wondering if anybody can relate to this experience. Writing the middle seems much harder than writing the beginning, and I imagine harder than writing the end, which must go as I first envisioned. (I started out with the beginning and end firmly in mind, and tried to lay out some stepping-stones--scenes--like a path through the woods.)

And it's much slower-going, too. I'm getting about 2-3 standard pages a day on average.

Would you please care to share your experience of mid-novel challenges? Any thoughts on how to work with these issues from those more experienced would be most welcome. Thanks!

SusanR

The middle of the novel is almost always the hard, slow part. All I can say is don't lock yourself in to a particular ending too early. The story may be trying to tell you it doesn't want to go there.

LightShadow · Nov 25, 2005

cut and paste, shake it up, and make it better. Put it in a drawer for a while if you have to and forget about it, pull it out when it's fresh, and chop it into pieces and add and subtract. That is the joy of being a writer. Nothing ever remains the same. The story is constantly evolving and never winds up being what the writer originally envisioned it to be.

Sharon Mock · Nov 25, 2005

Bogging down during certain points is perfectly natural, though different people tend to bog down at different places. (Personally I tend to have trouble at around the 1/3 and 3/4 marks.) It could mean you're burned out, it could mean you've reached a difficult point in the manuscript, or it could mean there are structural problems that are keeping the story from moving forward.

What I would do: if work is continuing to move slowly but steadily, I'd keep pushing forward. If I'm getting frustrated or nothing worth keeping is coming out, I'd take a day or two off and try coming back with fresh eyes. If I don't see any structural problems and the story still isn't flowing properly, I'd go ahead and skip forward, leaving the problem scene(s) to the next draft.

But different writers work very differently, and this advice may or may not work for you.

(Oh, and my writing speed usually drops through the floor when I'm writing scenes of darkness and emotional distress. That, I think, is completely normal. There's only so long I can stay immersed in pain without having to come up for a breath of air.)

three seven · Nov 25, 2005

Jamesaritchie said:
The middle of the novel is almost always the hard, slow part. All I can say is don't lock yourself in to a particular ending too early. The story may be trying to tell you it doesn't want to go there.

I agree. It's great to know exactly how your story's going to end, provided you know exactly how it's going to get there - if you have to struggle too hard to bring it into line, it's going to either drive you insane or come across as horribly contrived, or both. If you relax your grip a bit, you may well find not only that the story becomes easier to write, but that its natural conclusion is at least as satisfying as the one you originally envisioned.

TheGaffer · Nov 25, 2005

Agreed on endings

Yeah - you don't wanna lock yourself in too much. For me, having always had trouble pushing things past the opening scenes, having a goal - a vague solution to the problem - was important, in order to help me reach that spot. The scene I wrote in advance that I thought was the climax is now closer to 3/4 of the way through instead of the full way through. So there's that. For me, having no idea of where I was headed meant I could continue to blather on without getting closer, either.

Ken Schneider · Nov 25, 2005

I agree with Sharon, and everyone has made good points.

I think we all have to find ways to, "Get over the hump." We can only tell you what works for us.

What do I do? I've tried most of what is mentioned above, and have found that those things help, I.E. stepping away for a few days, reading back several pages to refresh, and so on.

In my current WIP, I'm coming up on mid-book. I feel, and can't see a slow down this time around, and I'll tell you why.

I have four groups of characters with their own missions to accomplish to meet the end. Not all novels can be broken down like this. I'm sure first person can't be, the whole story has to be kept with one POV.

I'm in third, with multiple, POV's depending on which character group I'm with. One of these characters in each group maintains the POV.

Since I have four separate groups to move through the story, I can switch scenes, and move the other scenes along. Switching from scene to scene allows for fresh thoughts on where these characters are going, which means leaving time for the other scene to unflod. Maybe, and it has happened, the other groups in my WIP have given me ideas for a differents groups direction.

I don't now what you're writing, what voice you are using, or what subplots you may have to help you through. This info may or may not help. Keep writing, and you'll push through.

If your WIP is confusing you as to how to untangle the plot, and bring the story together, then going back and reading what you've written may be the way to go.

In my last WIP I really got stuck. I knew what I wanted the ending to be, so I wrote the ending. This gave me some Ideas as to how I wanted to move the middle of the story. The ending did change, but didn't effect the middle.

Good luck at any rate.

Ken S.

maestrowork · Nov 25, 2005

I think different things work for different people. For some people, they just need to keep ploughing through with BIC... etc.

For me, to get through the "hump," I have to drop the whole thing and get away for a while. It's not as if I completely forget about it. Instead, I'm constantly thinking about it, detangling it in my mind, and letting my characters speak to me. Sometimes this process (without writing a single word) would last for weeks, or even months. But when I finally sit down and write the story again, things would flow so much better because I have thought it through. It seems to work for me.

Old Hack · Nov 25, 2005

I solved the problem of drooping in the middle by writing all my scenes as they occurred to me, rather than writing sequentially. It is a chaotic way of writing but it opens out all sorts of unexpected storylines and produces (for me at least) a very textured, layered text. I do spend a lot of time assembling all those scenes into a coherent text, and it would drive some people up the wall, I know: but it works well for me.

SusanR · Nov 25, 2005

Thanks, everybody, for your thoughtful replies.

I've been thinking about this on and off all day, and I realize I'm hesitating because I have to deal with a plausibility problem with one character's motivation and choices.

You've given me some great advice. I'm going to keep writing until I get to that stuck point, and then I'm just going to think, ponder and wing it. (How's that for a plan?)

The biggest problem (aside from my inexperience) is that I am telling a complex tale--actually two related stories. I have a contemporary female medical examiner obsessed by the unknown identities of two African-American remains, a male and female, murdered and buried sometime circa 1800 near Albany, NY. Her investigation reveals that the land the bones were found beneath once belonged to an old Dutch slave-holding family, whose latest descendent is a New York politician running for national office. The press begins to have a field day as the ME refuses to close the case until her investigation is complete. Sensational headlines read, "Politician So-and-So's Family Fortune Built on Slavery."

As the M.E. probes deeper into the case, and her conflict with the politician escalates, I weave in the second tale, unfolding between the years 1798 to 1820, and telling the story of the people who would become those old bones.This second story, complex in its own right, explores the (imagined) impact of New York state's thirty-year gradual Emancipation Act upon my characters. This section is written in third person omniscient.

Thus I have two independent but related stories whose climaxes must coincide!

Actually, this little exercise of trying to explain my novel's structure has done me a lot of good. I just figured out how to solve the plausibility problem! I have to up the stakes for the politician--have him run for president, not US Senate--to make his actions meaningful. Eureka!

Thanks a heartfelt bunch!
SusanR

Ken Schneider · Nov 25, 2005

A little positive reinforcement from the troops always helps, Susan. I know you can push through. Go get um'.

Vomaxx · Nov 25, 2005

SusanR said:
I feel a bit overwhelmed, lost in this jungle of my own creation.

I think it's important to keep in mind that no reader is going to follow a book as carefully as did the author. If the author finds he is confused or bewildered by what is going on, I think the reader will be hopelessly lost and put the book down.

I hope my readers--if I ever have any--will be attentive, but I try to keep things simple.

emeraldcite · Nov 25, 2005

I'm just hitting the middle of one of my WIPs and I'm slowing down. It's like when you're eating and eating, and finally it hits you. You feel full.

That's how it feels with this WIP. Sometimes, I just don't want to screw it up. I feel I've done so well in the beginning that it's hard to continue.

Middle of the Novel Issues

SusanR

jules

Bored fanatic

henriette

TheGaffer

Docking Bay 94

Jamesaritchie

LightShadow

defender of the blahs!

Sharon Mock

Wing nut

three seven

(Graeme Cameron)

TheGaffer

Docking Bay 94

Ken Schneider

Absolute sagebrush

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

SusanR

Ken Schneider

Absolute sagebrush

Vomaxx

emeraldcite

Art is Resistance