Random Writing Tip #6

Well, the middle of your story is really not just the middle—it’s everything between the first few chapters and the end. In fact, it’s probably the majority of your story.

The middle of your story is where you develop the promise of your first paragraphs (or chapters.) You can think of the middle as containing all the dots, and lines between the dots, that get you from “Start” to “Finish” on your story map. The dots are important events–the introduction of a new character, an unforeseen complication, a battle, a party, a trip–the lines are the parts of your narrative that move your readers from one key happening to the next.

You can have a lot of fun here, but don’t forget, every story you write needs to end sooner or later, and the events of the middle should be moving you toward that final goal—the moment when the reader closes the book, or turns off the Kindle, and says, “Ahhh. That was a good story.”