So, you are writing your novel, your characters are solid, your plot is interesting, and the pacing is just perfect. You reach the middle and, what happens next? Blank. Just pure blank. Sorry to be the one to tell you but you, my friend, might be suffering from what’s commonly called sagging-middle syndrome.
The sagging middle syndrome is one of the most common problems among writers, especially if you feel like your story is losing momentum with every chapter written. You feel like your story has a great start and an even better end, but the middle it's just meh.
Well, fortunately, it's fixable and actually avoidable.
PLAN AHEAD
Yeah, it sucks. Planning means spending a lot of time plotting your story instead of writing it like you probably want to, but it will save you several future headaches. Trust me.
Because, you see, sagging middles are generally a result of a weak structure. And as your story moves towards the climax, your characters should start facing more significant challenges. Things are expected to get complicated, and the stakes should be higher in order to leave the reader more concerned with each passing chapter. Meaning, they'll be going through the pages until 4 am on a work night.
KILL OFF A CHARACTER
Sometimes, we add a whole bunch of minor character to the stove for the sake of a subplot, and because it somewhat adds up something to the plot. But, honestly, are they all genuinely expendable? Sometimes death can give your main character the emotional push necessary to complete their goal. Try it in case your story is lacking emotion.
ADD SOME ROMANCE
Play the cupid card and add a tiny pinch of love to your story. But be aware, love in the writing world is just as complicated as in real life. If you write too much of it, it will cause your readers to skip pages. And if you write too little, it will make them feel like the whole idea of romance was stupid to begin with and completely unnecessary.
Take it slow and give your readers a substantial reason for these characters to fall for each other. Afterall, you do have one hell of a blank space to fill, right?
Sagging-middle syndrome sucks, but fortunately, it's quite normal in the writing process, which means, you are on the right path to finish your novel.
Happy Writing!
This reminds me of what one of the BBC websites says about writing. I remember coming across a BBC website which was all about teaching people how to write, with a focus on comedy. They are focusing more on TV writing of course but what they are saying and what you are saying applies to both books and TV (and also video games etc if they have a story). On that website it points out that many people know the start and end of the story and try to write linearly from point A (the start) to point B (the ending). However that doesn't work often because the middle is the interesting part, where stuff must start to get moving and maybe some curveballs are thrown at the main characters. They call the middle of the story the muddle because it is meant to get more complicated and be the "muddle" - the thing that doesn't let them go straight from a to b without dealing with c or do first basically. The muddle (middle) is what makes things interesting according to that site. This seems to be along the same lines of what you are saying when you point out that knowing the start and end but being lost in the middle is related to poor structure.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit