Hoping this will help: In a novel, there is usually a protagonist who has managed to get embroiled into some sort of trouble--there is a knot that needs to be untangled, a problem to be solved, etc. When the middle isn't happening, that means the problem has been solved too quickly. Instead, you need to deepen the conflict in some way--laterally or horizontally or any which way--and then escalate your story forward through some kind of cause and effect. In other words, make more happen, make things harder for your protagonist, add new elements/obstacles that play off of earlier ones. Also, depending on what you are writing, there may be a second plot line that can occur with its own arc that sits beside the main arc.
This is awesome! Why didn't they tell how to escape quicksand back when we were kids? I love that metaphor or is it an analogy on how to get unstuck. Great article - I only write memoir type stuff and your article entices me to fabricate a few stories.
My favorite detail of the story of how parents met (even though their marriage ended disastrously) was that they met in the middle of a street in a small Florida town and my mom was wearing a pair of white go-go boots.
Hey, thanks so much. If you like my newsletter, and think there's. relevant post, I'd love a reco. Memoir: after my agent failed to find a buyer a while back, I've been retasking, scrambling, etc.--screenplays, side hustles. Would love to discuss off-platform if you ever have time-inclination. thanks again!
I love this quote from Virginia Woolf about the middle: “It is worth mentioning for future reference that the creative power which bubbles so pleasantly in beginning a new book quiets down after a time, and one goes on more steadily. Doubts creep in. Then one becomes resigned. Determination not to give in and the sense of impending shape keep one at it more than anything. I’m a little anxious. How am I to bring off this conception? Directly one gets to work one is like a person walking, who has seen the country stretching out before. I want to write nothing in this book that I don’t enjoy writing. Yet writing is always difficult.”
Hoping this will help: In a novel, there is usually a protagonist who has managed to get embroiled into some sort of trouble--there is a knot that needs to be untangled, a problem to be solved, etc. When the middle isn't happening, that means the problem has been solved too quickly. Instead, you need to deepen the conflict in some way--laterally or horizontally or any which way--and then escalate your story forward through some kind of cause and effect. In other words, make more happen, make things harder for your protagonist, add new elements/obstacles that play off of earlier ones. Also, depending on what you are writing, there may be a second plot line that can occur with its own arc that sits beside the main arc.
Great advice, Mary. Being stuck is just a moment to go deeper.
Thank you, Grant. Weirdly, substack only sent me notice that you had replied to my comment today (May 21). No idea why it took so long.
Thank you for this! I have used the "what if" approach to move a story along. Such a great essay!
Just what I needed to read tonight. Thanks!
This is awesome! Why didn't they tell how to escape quicksand back when we were kids? I love that metaphor or is it an analogy on how to get unstuck. Great article - I only write memoir type stuff and your article entices me to fabricate a few stories.
Thanks, Christy! I hope it works for memoir as well! And ... yeah, I needed that quicksand knowledge when I was a kid, haha.
My favorite detail of the story of how parents met (even though their marriage ended disastrously) was that they met in the middle of a street in a small Florida town and my mom was wearing a pair of white go-go boots.
I have been dancing while I edit! It is a wonderful way to get back!
Keep dancing! And writing ...
Later Feb sounds great. I hope the caregiving goes as serenely as possible. Let's switch our coms to email. Hang in there.
Hey, thanks so much. If you like my newsletter, and think there's. relevant post, I'd love a reco. Memoir: after my agent failed to find a buyer a while back, I've been retasking, scrambling, etc.--screenplays, side hustles. Would love to discuss off-platform if you ever have time-inclination. thanks again!
Sure thing. Let's talk. I'm home taking care of my mom now, so maybe later in February? I'd love to catch up.
Wise, compassionate advice, Grant. Wish I could apply it to my non-fiction work (or lack thereof) but it's stirring.
Thanks, Chris! Love your newsletter. I remember hearing about a memoir of yours a while back. I hope that's in motion ...
I love this quote from Virginia Woolf about the middle: “It is worth mentioning for future reference that the creative power which bubbles so pleasantly in beginning a new book quiets down after a time, and one goes on more steadily. Doubts creep in. Then one becomes resigned. Determination not to give in and the sense of impending shape keep one at it more than anything. I’m a little anxious. How am I to bring off this conception? Directly one gets to work one is like a person walking, who has seen the country stretching out before. I want to write nothing in this book that I don’t enjoy writing. Yet writing is always difficult.”