In a post on DIY MFA, Monica Cox offers advice for getting past the middle point roadblock in your manuscript. “Like quicksand, the harder you fight the murky middle, the worse it gets,” she says. “Scenes feel forced. Dialogue stilted. Plot holes abound.”
How to you get through it? Cox has five tips:
- Go back to your why. Consider why you are writing this story. Where did the idea come from and what inspired you to choose this story as your next project? “Try to recapture the original feeling that sparked your creativity,” Cox advises. “Keeping your why front and center will make coming to the work easier and, let’s be honest, the only real way through the murky middle is through.”
- Articulate the point of your story. What is your story sentence? In other words, what are you trying to say? “Knowing the point of your particular story is imperative to keeping your writing on track from beginning to end,” Cox notes. “Keep that point top of mind as you write forward.”
- Skip ahead. It’s ok to skip around. If you’re bored writing a scene, your reader will be bored too. Jump ahead to a scene you’re more excited about, and figure out how to get there from the scene to set aside. Alternatively, you might find you don’t need that boring scene at all.
- Brainstorm a list. Are you completely stuck? Brainstorm five – or more – things that could happen next and consider how each idea would affect the rest of your story. Your first ideas will probably feel predictable, so keep going. “Generate more and more ideas until you finally find the option that both surprises you and feels most authentic to your character,” Cox says.
- Check your but-therefore chain. If your plot is a series of unconnected actions, you might have more problems when you reach the middle section. Be sure that your plot is driven by your protagonist’s goals and needs, and the actions they’ll take to fulfill them. Actions in one scene should have a consequence and trigger a new decision or course of action. Analyze your connections. If your main character is simply responding to events without driving the story, look for ways to reframe the narrative to give them more agency. The more choices your hero makes, the easier it becomes to imagine the next one.
