the key to a strong middle act (and what I learned from my mistakes)

The middle act is a bitch.

The middle act defeats many a formidable writer.

I'm approaching the middle of my own novel-in-progress THE DECADENTS. I was reading James Scott Bell's book PLOT AND STRUCTURE and it occurred to me that I need to think of the middle act as a crucible.

A 'crucible' is a melting pot: a vessel made of material that is used for high temperature chemical reactions. It makes me think of disaster films. I always like the idea of disaster films (even if the films...