How to Survive the Marathon of the Middle and Finally Finish Your Novel

I’m known for comparing novelists to marathon runners. If you’ve ever attempted to write a novel or run a marathon, you know why.

This is one analogy that holds up fairly well.

For marathoners to succeed, they must:

Get into shape
Stay in shape
Start well
Stay strong through the middle while preserving enough strength to
Finish strong

For novelists to succeed, they must:

Learn the craft
Hone their skills
Write a great opening
Maintain a strong middle so they can
Write a resounding ending
Where Do Most People Quit?

My running friends tell me it’s at number 4.

My novelist colleagues tell me it’s at number 4.

As the author of nearly 190 books, two-thirds of those novels, I can tell you, number 4 is also where I’m tempted to throw in the towel nearly every time.

You say, “Seriously? After all your success and the number of times you’ve proved you can do this?”

Yes! You think I have a bookshelf full of my published works in my writing cave so I can show off? For one thing, I hardly ever let anyone else in there. That shelf is there to remind me I’ve done this before!

The marathon of the middle gets me almost every time.

“Don’t You Just Love Writing?”

Don’t ask me that when I’m slogging through the middle.

Don’t ask a marathoner if he doesn’t just love running when he’s at the 20-mile mark of a 26.2-mile marathon. You’re likely to get a response you won’t appreciate.

I love being a writer. I love knowing how to write. I love having written, being known as a writer, having been published.

But do I love writing right now, when I’m wondering why I ever got into the game and how I expect to drag myself to that great ending I have in mind?

No.

And I suspect the marathoner feels the same about his profession.

So What’s the Solution?

What’s the difference between those of us who stick with it and finish and those who quit?

We know the end game is worth it:

The sense of fulfillment and satisfaction of finishing
Becoming a published author and hearing from readers
Seeing our message actually reach the people who most need it

This makes it worth all the agony.

And we have also learned how to get there.

You Ready For the Silver Bullet?

The big reveal, the magic potion, the secret sauce?

Guess what? There are no short cuts.

You want overnight success, something for nothing? Look elsewhere.

You have a great novel idea, an unforgettable lead character, a killer opening, a plot to die for, and an ending that will make readers clamor for whatever you write from now till the end of time.

It’s just that marathon of the middle that has you bollixed up. How do you keep readers with you for two or three hours between grabbing them on page one and wringing out their hearts at the end?

By writing with the same verve and passion in the middle as you do at the front and back. You have all kinds of literary devices on that tool belt  of yours. It’s up to you to use every one in fresh and incisive ways.

Don’t you dare bore your reader, not for a second. Never allow yourself to think that because hundreds of pages stretch before you, your insistence on making every word count can flag for an instant.

Inject conflict and tension and changes of pace into every scene. Think of your plot as a roller coaster. That doesn’t mean a hundred miles an hour worth of drops and loops. It might also mean prolonged stretches of slow climbs, but where the tension is so thick with anticipation no one would dream about leaving the car.

Set up and payoff, set  up and payoff, and do this repeatedly so the reader must keep turning pages—all the while adding to the overall setup that will result in a huge payoff at the end.

The Principle of Multiplied Emotion

Commit yourself to that marathon of the middle with such devotion that you’re drawn back to the keyboard every day, eager to keep layering on the dollops of rich topping for your reader to enjoy. And remember Robert Frost’s adage: “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.”

If your prose makes you weep, your reader will sob. If it makes you yawn, your reader will sleep.

Do you have a question about whether even one line is strong enough to stay in? When in doubt, throw it out.

Commit Yourself

You’ll never regret fully devoting yourself to the marathon of the middle. You’ll only regret quitting.

How will you force yourself to endure the marathon of the middle so you not only don’t quit but make your novel sing?

 

 

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