Hi. So my current WIP is a Crime (thrillerish) novel. I've recently written a brilliant mid-point twist in the plot (currently at 50,000 words) and then nothing . . . my characters literally don't know what to do next. I have outlined my story so I have to get my characters to point B for the next big reveal say in 10,000 words, and have two big plot points planned, but just need to get my characters moving again.
Help?
I think, for me, they need to want a thing that they work toward, and you use that thing (that momentum they bring with working toward something) to get them to the place you need them to be.
Let's say your big midpoint twist is that the person the hero thought was the villain turns out to be his secret benefactor. Trippy, yeah?
So now he knows. And the readers are swooning. And now, you need him, and his benefactor, to head to the castle (because you know the
actual bad guy is there, and they'll figure it out once they arrive.)
But ... problem is, they have no reason to go to the castle.
You need to give them a reason. Back weave in some other thing that the protagonist wants to do, which will get him to the castle.
Maybe: The hero found a lost talisman in act I, and if he delivers it to the queen, she'll reward him. Or he saw the princess at the beginning of act II and she told him to come to the castle at the next full moon, at which point she could enchant his armor for him.
Or something. Give him
some other thing related to his story goal that gets him to the place where the next plot point happens.
If there's a problem in the story, the actual problem is earlier in the story.
That's how I look at these things, but it is frustrating, yeah? When the characters are just standing there waiting for directions.