Getting Through the Muddy Middle of Your Novel

Writing a novel in a month can be hard. Writing a novel at all can be hard. Writing is hard! So how do we find the motivation to keep writing? If you’re still bogged down in the middle of your novel, take a glance at this sagacious advice by NaNoWriMo Participant Chel Urban:

Middles can be hard.

Nearly every author has fixed the sagging middle of a manuscript. The excitement of the beginning can fade into exhaustion or frustration that makes the completion of your story seem impossible. Whatever your reason, giving up might seem appealing. It may even seem artfully affirming to diagnose yourself with Writer’s Block and put your whole novel on pause. But the cure for writer’s block is the simplest yet most challenging piece of advice:

Just keep writing.

Writer’s block can mean different things for different writers, but usually it is a catch all term for stagnation caused by a loss of inspiration and/or being unsure of how to progress in your narrative. When you simply don’t want to write, try to identify your baseline feeling. Whether it is being worn out, stressed, or any other low, project those feelings into your word count.

If you are too tired to motivate yourself to write, coax yourself into it by having a scene where your character is tired too (this can even lead to fun, easy to write dream or hallucination sequences). 

When you’re stressing about word count, write about something making your character anxious in a similar way. What goals or obligations might they have? If there isn’t a reason for them to feel it, create one.

If you are feeling directionless with your plot, take the pressure off yourself and just let the words flow. Have your character kill their time with you—what would they do? Would they open their phone and take pictures? Observe the room they’re in? Make small talk with the people around them?

Writing these temporary scenes is a perfect way to accidentally-on-purpose discover the habits and personality of your characters, giving them depth and relatability. Similarly, you will also create potential plot devices to play with later. What effect might having that picture on their phone bring to your plot down the line? What objects in that room might become important? If you need a new character, why not utilize that small talk character you already included? You now have a treasure trove of material at your disposal. Use what works and remove the rest when you edit.

Picasso once said, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” Most of my ideas and “Aha!” moments strike me this way. Occasionally these ideas lead me to realize that I am stuck because something I already have is not working. When this is the case, I only make the changes mentally, forgoing the literal rewrite or removing until my first draft is done. I keep moving forward with the new idea, writing as if it had always been that way. This works with smaller changes too, like altering a name of a person or place. There will be time to edit when you finish your manuscript, but you have to write your Draft Zero first. Don’t spend time finalizing something still in the raw stage—remember what you’re working on now might not even stay in your novel!

None of these prompts need to be perfect, they only need to be written. What you are creating in the throes of battling your writer’s block may feel messy and pointless, but original words are never truly wasted even after scenes are removed or changed. This 50k is the invisible foundation your future polished novel will be built on.

Don’t give up and don’t stop writing!

Chel Urban has been a passionate NaNoWriMo participant since 2017. Through the program she has had multiple wins during both November and Camp months. This month she is revising Book One of her YA scifi/fantasy trilogy. Chel adores her large and supportive group of friends and family, particularly her husband who has been inspiring and encouraging her writing since they started dating at fourteen. Besides reading and writing, Chel loves cats, goth fashion/music, veggie pizza, carnivals, and roller skating.

Top photo by June Admiraal on Unsplash.