Writing Process – Fixing the Saggy Middle
One other topic to keep an eye on in your second draft is the dreaded saggy middle. The start of a story is interesting because it’s a new world, new characters, and new conflicts that the reader is getting to know. The climax is of course exciting and interesting, but what about all those pages in between.
Contrary to common belief, lots and lots happens in the middle of a novel. So much, sometimes, that it’s overfilled with action, emotion, or characters racing from one location to another. More often than not the middle third of a book actually ends up being overfull and out of proportion to the other parts of the story causing it to drag.
New characters—often too many—are introduced, while back story and info dumps find their ways in as well. Plot elements ramble. Characters grow verbose and contemplative rather than remaining active. All this results in tension seeping out of the story. Drama gets reduced; conflict is only fleetingly visited. This doesn’t have to be the case though.
Maybe you need to introduce a love interest, or have a story line get resolved sooner. Increase tension or play with the pace. Use a subplot or thread to raise the stakes, then resolve the subplot and use the resolution to create even more conflict.
An example of this in my writing can be found in my first novel Origins. An entire storyline revolving around Moses and the slave exodus from Egypt was added to give the middle some punch. Just be sure to keep the new elements fit and tight by separating the middle into its own beginning, middle and end. Use conflict and tension the same way you did in the beginning chapters, or hopefully ratchet the conflict up a few notches.
Another way to go is to trim the middle. Perhaps you should remove or combine some chapters to move things along faster. I know several times in my writing I have merged two chapters into one for the sake of pacing.
Unfortunately there is no magic wand to wave. You just need to put in the time to polish, edit and rewrite the middle until it’s taut and quivering with tension just like the rest of the book.
Up next: The Third Draft
Contrary to common belief, lots and lots happens in the middle of a novel. So much, sometimes, that it’s overfilled with action, emotion, or characters racing from one location to another. More often than not the middle third of a book actually ends up being overfull and out of proportion to the other parts of the story causing it to drag.
New characters—often too many—are introduced, while back story and info dumps find their ways in as well. Plot elements ramble. Characters grow verbose and contemplative rather than remaining active. All this results in tension seeping out of the story. Drama gets reduced; conflict is only fleetingly visited. This doesn’t have to be the case though.
Maybe you need to introduce a love interest, or have a story line get resolved sooner. Increase tension or play with the pace. Use a subplot or thread to raise the stakes, then resolve the subplot and use the resolution to create even more conflict.
An example of this in my writing can be found in my first novel Origins. An entire storyline revolving around Moses and the slave exodus from Egypt was added to give the middle some punch. Just be sure to keep the new elements fit and tight by separating the middle into its own beginning, middle and end. Use conflict and tension the same way you did in the beginning chapters, or hopefully ratchet the conflict up a few notches.
Another way to go is to trim the middle. Perhaps you should remove or combine some chapters to move things along faster. I know several times in my writing I have merged two chapters into one for the sake of pacing.
Unfortunately there is no magic wand to wave. You just need to put in the time to polish, edit and rewrite the middle until it’s taut and quivering with tension just like the rest of the book.
Up next: The Third Draft
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