In the middle

"Sagging middles" can be a problem in book manuscripts. Sometimes the scenes just seem to be marking time, waiting for the good stuff to happen. As a reader, I find myself getting impatient when not enough changes in the middle, when we haven't found out anything new for a while. Subplots can help keep things interesting. It's also nice to advance the plot in interim steps, where we find out one or two of the big secrets as we go along, instead of learning them all at the end.

I get impatient ...