How to Get Through the Sagging Middle of Your Book
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- Middles suck. Middles are hard. Is the middle of your book sagging? A muddled mess? Let's talk about the middle of your book. I'm sharing what you need in the middle, beats to follow, things to consider for an engaging read... and how you can use these things both for drafting and in revision.
Much like the middle, it's a big muddle of discussion. Time stamps below to help you navigate.
+TIMESTAMPS+
01:17 Fun & Games/Promise of the Premise beat w/ examples
04:05 Pacing in the middle/book structure
05:37 A series of unfortunate events (conflict & obstacles)
08:04 Asking & answering questions
10:31 The key ingredients of your middle
12:35 Your book is a rollercoaster ride
15:39 Dramatizing vs. narration
19:21 Practical revision tips for the middle
+BOOKS MENTIONED+
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Eyre Affair/Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde
+RELATED VIDEOS+
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Dramatization vs. narration: • NARRATE vs. DRAMATIZE ...
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Did this help you figure out your middle?!
+TIMESTAMPS+
01:17 Fun & Games/Promise of the Premise beat w/ examples
04:05 Pacing in the middle/book structure
05:37 A series of unfortunate events (conflict & obstacles)
08:04 Asking & answering questions
10:31 The key ingredients of your middle
12:35 Your book is a rollercoaster ride
15:39 Dramatizing vs. narration
19:21 Practical revision tips for the middle
Yes! This is so helpful.
TLDR 21:44 😂
@@joannamiller9446 you're my writing mentor! Love your info!
V
"You need the most pep talks for the middle"
Ummmmm... This was not it, that much I can say :D
"You need to lull your readers into a false sense of security" And this is why I NEVER trust the happy/calm moments. 😂 I know it's all about to go terribly wrong.
That's why I have trust issues...lol
Yup
When you're reading the happy ending but realize there's still 200 pages left...
"Have you ever read a book where it's just a series of unfortunate events?"
Lemony Snickets A Series of Unfortunate Events: ... What's wrong with that?
Lol, I think that was an intentional allusion and that she might’ve been partly facetious. Those books aren't all "unfortunate events" - just the titles.
I was never able to finish reading the series. I always felt like it should have ended at the end of the volume I'd just read. In short, I found it too episodic - in a depressing way.
I assume it got famous because it's a good series, I just - I never got used to how each volume had a similar, repetitive structure, personally :(
@@pauline_f328 to each their own, I suppose, lol. Despite the depressive tone and repetitiveness (neither of which I personally mind much at all, I feel like the way it was done worked for me) the comedy laced in the tragedy kept me hooked throughout both the book series and the show (which was great imo- if you’re willing to give it another chance, the show is just lovely and I recommend it
@@nevisnebis1207 Will keep that in mind, thank you! 😊
I feel like I've learned more from your videos than I ever did in college... Thank you for taking time to explain actual logistics!
Me too. I have a B.A. in English/Creative Writing, and the most useful skills I've learned were from authortube, lol.
“Your act one should be short and sweet”
*Act 1 is currently 27k words*
*Feels attacked*
That's good/ok if it's only 30% of your whole? Some books or movies are really long! 😁 (Is some of it fat that doesn't move the action along? Or description that can be moved to the middle? Are you giving too much info too soon? Those are the questions I am learning to ask if my first act is too long.
AmethystWoman The issue is more that I have multiple inciting incidents before the clear break into two beat, so that’s bulked things out some. If anything I could stand to add more. Also this story will be so long.
Haha I'm in your camp! My Act 1 is just off 30k xD
Yeah mines 21k and I think I kind of started with the middle tho- oops
That's nothing lol, mine got up to 63k before getting out of Act I before I realized how overbloated it was and I shelved it to regroup. To be fair it was an epic fantasy, but still, it was just a tad excessive.
I went to film school, and most of my instructors referred to the middle as "the wasteland" and I must say, I always found that an apt description.
It’s took me a minute to realize you weren’t using the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events and rather talking about a section of a story. Oops. This is super helpful now I just need to finish writing my novel.
Lol same
Once you make a middle as a writer work you can make any story. And what helps me when I’m stuck is I talk to myself and pace the room and think about the book I’m writing, the arcs I want to develop and the romance I want to get started. The blood flowing through my body faster helps me to write and me talking to myself is letting me hear what I have to say and giving me inspiration. I think it’s a good strategy and I hope this will help!
I'm writing up a crime thriller and I figured out a major thing by talking to myself in the car. It really does help lol
Just reached the 10,000 word mark in my novel and I'm really feeling it 😭😭.
Are you done writing?
@@ashwiniagrawal6309 I've written like four books since I posted this comment.
Four??? That's great man.. that too in the span of 8 months ! Published?
@@ashwiniagrawal6309 No. I just started writing about three years ago. I don't think my work is ready for publishing. I'm hoping by 2022 I will have something published.
Happy to hear that ! Where do you summon that much patience from 🙈
Once I learned to think of middles as each chapter being a mini-story as if they're going to be an hour episode of a TV show, it helps a ton. I love the Save the Cat!
funny story, I've been having a really hard time with the end of my act two/beginning of act 3, and while watching this, I had a realization. My B plot should be the main plot. Don't mind me while I go and change the whole thing! It makes so much more sense now.
There was an entire subplot that popped up in the middle of my novel that was supposed to be sprinkled throughout the entire thing. My character, Peter, popped up in my head and said "hey. You forgot about me. I'm going to tell you something that happened in this time that you forgot."
Great. Thanks Peter.
Edit: Meaning, I feel you. I'm sorry.
Oof this was so useful, I made a whole bunch of notes in my planning doc from this aha
I noticed you used very limited cuts and edits. That’s really impressive to be able to say all this without jumping around. This also really helped. Lagging middle syndrome sucks. Thanks!
“You can do your fun and games in the 2nd act.”
Me: writing a horror thriller/dark comedy *laughs*
I'm a relatively new author, but I have found my act 2 to be my favorite, it gives me the most room to explore my characters and my world.
Same!
She be so well spoken tho ^_^/ thank you for injecting all the knowledge that I will hopefully use while finishing my crappy book
I had a hard time with bridging my middle with my ending. I would just get so stuck...
I seriously get a whole ass creative writing course just watching your videos, thank you for these
Wait.....The Eyre Affair is part of a series? There's more Thursday Next? I feel oddly relieved...
Damn, Alexa. I must say, your videos are indispensable. Thank you.
I'm struggling through a middle right now...
You're the most thorough and educated authortuber I've found. This video is awesome!
When revising and addressing the balance of conflict I find it helpful to frame it as “the stakes” instead of the conflict. The spectrum looks more like: I forgot my umbrella/ I got caught in a downpour- I drove drunk/ my best friend is in a coma INSTEAD OF a conflict spectrum which can be oversimplified: I was caught in a downpour- my best friend is in the hospital. Lower stakes conflicts can sustain small pay-offs for your reader and create relevant ways to show readers things about your characters. Thanks for your videos Alexa 🤟
“What else could go wrong?” Me when I was while listening to A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO VICE AND VIRTUE
This is the most helpful video about the murky middle I've seen yet. And trust me I've watched a lot 😂
This is actually so helpful to me!! I'm kind of writing from two povs (protagonist and antagonist) and this has really helped me figure how to tackle the middle of book one - as well as the middle of my planned series in general!! The day I saw Sara Raasch's TikTok reacting to your video on the YA industry literally changed my life. Love these videos you do :-)
Great video, Alexa!
Some great advice and perspective there...
Not trying to pose as an expert, but as I listened to this, I couldn't help thinking... pragmatically. If one were to simply open a spare place to keep documents, a separate file in the book's directory (for instance... and dependent on writer's structural/organization preference) AND then treated this "middle territory" as a space to play around and experiment. Write up scenes, short-stories, whatever... just as long as it fleshes out the setting/world, the characters involved, and creates content "presumably for the book" you can include it... From there, as you've refined your ideas toward more tangible stuff, you can get back to the "beats" and "plot-points" to figure out approximately what order and how best to segue from one to the next... to generate the most (or "closest to") optimal structure in the final product... and run the "copy-paste" operations accordingly... Sure, it will come with obvious refining and occasional complete redress of some parts, but stitching together what you've already got is usually a less intensively dragging task than trying to spawn one scene after another to strike the points as you go... at least, that's what it sounds like from the fairly consistent perspectives I hear and see all the time from writers.
In the "old days" this might be that technique with sticky-notes on the wall and thumb-tacks and string to connect the issues in a convincing way. Only digitally speaking, it's probably a lot less messy (and you don't find nearly as many thumbtacks stuck to your shoes... yay for bare feet?
Finally, it's worth noting that no matter the technique, writing is much like any other artistic craft. The discipline to keep focus and "trim out" the excesses to keep the business going is still paramount. You do have to "stop creating" sometimes... and a truly remarkable artist is the one who knows when and where to stop... some seemingly by instinct (though I'd admit some suspicion about hard-lessons in failure and fumbling quite a bit on that... if I'm honest.) ;o)
Along with fun and games and all your other great tips. I look at the middle as building up promises that you can pay off latter. Answering small questions here as well, builds trust with the reader. In a since you promise them that their big questions will get answered.
Absolutely!
Romance too often has a saggy middle. Between the meet cute and the HEA ending, there's usually a load of dumb childish drama to keep them apart to fill up the movie/book, then they finally get together. Hard to make the whole story feel like it's moving. Which is why I usually prefer romance as part of a bigger story.
Just be sure you're not adding any beef, onions, or peas to your trifle...
😂😂😂
Amazing timing! I'm currently drafting the middle and I'm stuck...You helped me realize that I was going through it way too fast and that I needed to let the characters breathe a bit.
This is by far the most helpful video I could find on writing Act 2! I have never gotten this far in writing a book, and I've hit Act 2 going, oh shoot, I need to study more or this is going to suck...
Your video was not only informational, but definitely helped my mindset as I plunge into this next section! Thank you!
The hardest thing for me is the end because the middle is when the ball is rolling, and then in Act 3 I have to just end things. It's not as fun for some reason... it's easy to procrastinate once I hit 50-60k because I know at that point I'm just tying up the ends.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm working on the middle chapters of my novel right now!
I simply want to say, Alexa, you are HILARIOUS. Also, of course, you have a lot of practical and concrete writing tips. Thanks a million.
done watching the Video, now gotta go writing
I feel like a good example of a book that is a good book but suffers from a saggy middle is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Harry just seems to spend an absolute age in detention in the middle of that book, and it’s like “ok, we get it, Umbridge is evil and owns a harming quill”
Alexa Donne - I have listened to dozens and dozens of writing.tutorials.
Your's are easily among the best.
Thank you🤘😎
Save The Cat writes a novel is really helpful If you feel lost and desperate at a point of your plotline ! :D Happy Writing to y'all
A cool thing I learned from Contours writing program when thinking of the main character Act I - ORPHAN, Act II-A WANDERER, Act II-B WARRIOR, Act III - MARTYR.
I've just gotten to the part of my book I've been working towards for literally two years! My old laptop deleted content that set me back that long! But now I'm in that slump. Idk where to go. Pray for me, fellow writers.
Sounds a bit strange, but I email myself my book after I work on it. So I know I have a updated version at all times
6 months later how’s your book going?
Right now, I’m having a hard time getting through the middle of act 1 haha.
I went through these questions a few years ago and hardly found anyone speaking about it online. This video is so helpful to navigate through the muddled middle territory. Three act structure and plotting guides help, but I'm much better at act one and three than act two.
I feel like every story can work, if you are honest with yourself about fixing it as much as it takes.
HOLY SHIT!
I read Thursday Next FOREVER ago, but for the life of me couldn't remember ANYTHING other than the plot, not the title, not the author.
You started talking about it and 'Jane Eyre being missing' I jumped out of my seat like.... THAT'S IT!
I read them in highschool checked them out from the library. I need to see about buying them. I LOVED those books.
I found this super helpful! I'm in the middle of my WIP now, and it's a bit of a challenge.
1 good beginning
2 ???
3 good end
4 profit
Holy fuck. You are kinda amazing.
I think what makes middles most difficult for writers is primacy and recency.
You remember best what happened first and what happened last. So every book a writer has ever read builds a massive network of ideas and structures and phrasing and plotting and pacing, but only of the things you remember about the book: the first and last acts. It's difficult to build a strong foundation for second act structure when you barely remember the basics of plot for a handful of novels over your reading lifetime. Therefore, middle does not come naturally when you sit down and draw upon your reading foundation to write your WIP.
Solution: pay attention to the way the author has written the middle of each book you next read. Make notes to enhance recall. Build that network for the second act by noticing it in what you read.
Always nice to hear opinions on how to improve. right now I'm 4.5 chapts in on a rewrite of an old book. I never liked it but didn't know why and so there it sat... for decades. when I finally realized my problem the rewrites began, problem is every couple of pages there's a sentence like this:
His excessive ambition sought a diamond in the ocean where the sting of jellyfish spanked their bottoms after a drag over sandpaper.
will these work? I have to finish. Damn it.
I've watched this video so many times, and here I am again, having trouble writing the second act for my fantasy. It's so much harder than I remembered it to be
Btw I can't believe this video is 2 years old, I watched it when you posted it and it doesn't feel that long ago lol
As a middle child, I can relate
Thanks for this! I was noticing just last night how my middle was so difficult to write. I’m glad to know it wasn’t just my imagination, thank you for the tips!
My outline is making the middle seem clear and not concerning. It helps alot.
I find that when I write the action first and add dialogue, description, and scenery later I stay on plot pretty well.
It looks like the "promise of the premise" is already there waiting for 5-7 scenes of buildup set it up. I love the Murphy's law strategy of making all the bad things happen and watching the character grow through it. I think it's the game master in me delighting in creating problems to deal with and consequences. The best is when the bad things were sort of their fault. Muahaha.
I feel like I struggle more with falling action and reflection making the ending satisfying.
Your videos are SO HELPFUL. I'm currently in the middle of a novel and this is helping me so much! If I'd found your channel in 2011 I could've skipped going to uni altogether.
Thanks Alexa, this was really helpful, I am currently writing the middle of my novel and struggling with the pacing. Also, was wondering if you could do a Q&A??
Extremely helpful! I particularly appreciate your suggestion of the Q+A paradigm for approaching the middle, and for giving the clearest and most succinct explanation of 'fun and games' I have run across!
I always have problems with middles as a reader if I don't trust the author. About 50% is my typical "giving up" point. At this point I kind of "understand the offer", but do I care enough to get through the middle?
Thank u this means so much 😘😘😘
i am so thankful for your channal! You help me so much with my book!
Great analysis and advice. I knew nothing about IP before, but I watched your video in one sitting and feel I really have a handle on all aspects of the subject. Thank you Alexa! I shall be back in for more publishing advice.
I've confused myself with the whole page number thing from my academic background. My writing friend mentioned that a book page is much shorter than a regular word doc page, but I didn't really consider it until recently. I have hundreds of pages of notes and prose that are in regular format in various documents... so the first time I wrote 50 pages of my book, that was actually a 100 page draft. It was in the middle that I kind of got caught up in character development, and perhaps simply too many characters. Hence why it's a trilogy now, but to think of all the condescending remarks about "oh how many pages have you written?" Like... a lot. "Oh, it should only take a few months to write a book..." Yeah they'll take years, but they'll be worth it.
Sitting here listening to you I worked through a scene that wasn't working, made some emotional beats and boom! Thanks... though, I should write it down before writing this comment... I often overestimate my memory capacity, or underestimate the ability of my brain on cannabis to blank out a new idea; as it happens, bits of the memory fall into a chasm and are lost... some of my best lines were lost before I could get them down- the voice of God in one of my books, ugh if I could only remember it.
Important story beats like the one humming around in my brain aren't necessarily something that can be remembered or forgotten though, they simply are an essential part of the story. The scene in question explains a motivational character beat, thus enhancing multiple characters in the moment. Woohoo.
Your videos are so helpful. Every time I watch one that I think I've got down, you explain something so clearly that I have to be like, "Oh yeah, I'm missing that part." I'm definitely going to have to add more moments of rest and reflection between my series of unfortunate events in the second draft.
That is what I don't really like about story beats and predefined plot structures. If you look at any of them, most of the middle is 'figure it out on your own'. Like just for an example, if you look up the save the cat story beats, the first 25% of the book has 7 beats to hit. Then fun and games is 25% by itself and the bad guys close in is 25% by itself. Then the last quarter has like 5 more. So basically the entire middle of the book is glossed over and left for you to figure out on your own. The three act structure is kind of bad a lot of times too, since if you view the second act as one act, it doesn't work out at all because it is so huge. It is better to split up the second act, or even just use 4 acts.
Ah this was really helpful and exactly what I needed right now!
I wish you were my creative writing teacher
Thank you, thank you, thank you so much! Your videos are a blessing!
As my promise of the premise is world building, culture, minimal amounts of adventure, and character development.
My dear reader, I sincerely hope you are a nerd.
I have more trouble with endings. For some reason it always leads directly to another book. Great I accidentally wrote another series. Darn it! oh well back to writing book seven in the series. My agent will be happy. Lol
I thought you were a cuty untill you punched me in the face. Talk about false sense of security in the middle of our relationship. And since bloody nose forced me to answer many undesirable questionsfor me the reader, I felt compelled to move on and bring this relationship to an end. Sincerely, your phantom admirer.
Middle = Meat
Thank you so much!! On my 7th rewrite I can’t start over again 😂
These were wonderful tips! Thank you so much!!
Oof, my act 1 is 40k words. High fantasy world set with 3 different characters
I really enjoyed Thursday Next! Can you say more about the parts that make up the middle? As in there are three acts, but what are the three parts that must be in the middle?
Jim Butcher blogged about his tool for coping muddy middles.
Thank you. I have so many beginnings and ends in my folders that are missing middles. I just need to sit and spew what I want to be there, check the beats and fill it in for draft one. Middles stop me. Thanks.
I love how your videos don't waste a lot of time and dig their teeth right into the meat. A writer's life's too short (or rather I have little attention span and should be writing right now).
Soo helpful!!!🎀🎀
I don’t think have that problem yet. My possible book is still meandering in my head. I have a tentative outline on paper though. Yah me!
A series of unfortunate events by Lemony Snicket is one of my favorite books
Thought I just had writers block this whole time
*Jimmy Eat World likes this
5:49-6:03 you just summarized the After series 😂😂
I'm in the muggled middle as well 🤤
"blaah, you vomit out the middle." 😄😄 Well put.
Love this advice! Personally I do have way more trouble with the third act. I'm trying to rewrite the climax of a novel I'm revising, and I can tell I need to go back to my favourite books (again) and examine how they do it.
Literally, thank you so much
I think this is where the Shopaholic books shine.
I'm semi-stuck in the middle of my story, could you do another video on advice for the middle?
Jenna Moreci has one
6:45 Friends “Ross and Rachel”
This is great advice thanks ❤
Love this video. Middles, again, are the worst thing ever. I want to delete them.
Take a shot every time she says the word "middle"
Great specific suggestions here. Thanks.
My story had a lot of chaos in the mid
It's like life: Through early life you get coddled, get to learn as much as possible. Mid-life is when you start working, moving out and figure your own life. Late-life you just can't be bothered anymore.
I DO NOT SHIFT MY WRITING
who is Daniel Moth ?
I'm revising everything
I've been watching your vids thinking you're actually a frustrated actress. Proof positive right here.