Hi writing friends,
Kickstarting your story is often one of the most enjoyable moments a writer can have. (That, and The End!) You’re brimming with enthusiasm. A character or situation bubbles to your mind. As soon as you sit down to write, your fingers are flying across the keyboard. Words just pour out. But somewhere around the middle of your story, things begin to slow. You may have no idea how the story should progress or what your character should do next.
You’ve just entered the “murky middle.” Scenes feel pointless. Dialogue becomes stilted. Characters are wandering without purpose. Maybe you even feel like you want to give up on your story. (Please don’t!)
The root of the problem is almost always a lack of momentum in the plot. The story is just plodding along without much tension or escalation.
If you’re struggling to find a way through the murky middle, check out these suggestions, and let me know if they help! 👇
1. Articulate the cause and effect
Once you set up the plot in the first third of the story, there are a lot of story choices available to you. So many, in fact, that it can feel paralyzing. A logical question is to ask yourself, “what happens next?” But this may not be the right question.
Trey Parker, co-creator of South Park, says that a common trap is to describe story action as “this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened.” Unfortunately, that’s a direct line to a disconnected series of events and the murky middle.
Escalation and tension lives in the connectedness of one thing leading to another. Trey says that the key is to link your story events with therefore or but.
What should happen between every beat that you’ve written down is either the word 'therefore' or 'but,' right? So what I’m saying is that you come up with an idea and it’s like ‘okay, this happens’ and then ‘THIS happens.’ No no no. It should be ‘this happens’ and THEREFORE ‘this happens.’ BUT ‘this happens’ THEREFORE ‘this happens.’ … And sometimes we will literally write it out to make sure we’re doing it. We’ll have our beats and we’ll say okay ‘this happens’ but ‘then this happens’ and that affects this and that does to that and that’s why you get a show that feels okay."
Find the link between your story beats. Can you show that this happened therefore this happened but then this happened? It will help escalate your plot like a spiral staircase from scene to scene.
2. Understand what is at stake…and then raise the bar
Stakes aka consequences are what your protagonist could lose if they don’t succeed at achieving their goal. Stakes are your story’s bargaining chip. What is on the table that your protagonist can’t walk away from?
Readers need to understand stakes in order to feel invested in the conflict of the story, especially in the middle of the book.
Once you zero in on what your protagonist has to lose, now up the ante. There are many ways to do this, but my favorite is to add a ticking clock. Give your protagonist a deadline. The thesis is due on Friday. The flight leaves in ten minutes. Taxes need to be filed by midnight.
3. Present new information
In the stories I edit, too often the characters spend the middle of the story circling the same bits of information. This is the exact moment to provide the protagonist and/or the reader with new details that enlighten or shift their perspective. What can your protagonist learn that changes them? What insight can they gain about themselves or another character? What secret can be revealed? What obstacle can they be faced with? Can they receive bad news or good news? Do they see a path to reach their goal? Can the antagonist/villain make themselves known?
Any of these options can create a momentum shift and escalate the tension, thereby catapulting your story out of the murky middle.
A word about passive characters
Wait, you may be thinking, my protagonist is bored/detached/passionless/despondent/apathetic. My story is about trying to show how their passivity is holding them back. If you have a passive character and that is, in fact, the point, your character needs to be shown that their unwillingness to exercise their agency is hurting them. They need to face obstacles that have negative outcomes because they didn’t act, forcing them to decide how they want to be in the world.
Literary agent Donald Maas talks about forced passiveness and impossible passiveness. Forced passiveness, he says, is when a story problem could be solved easily with talk, moderate effort, or strength of will, but for some reason the protagonist is not taking action. The ability to affect change resides wholly within the protagonist, and they must unlock the forward motion.
Impossible passiveness is when there is truly no way out. All events, social forces and a protagonist’s personal nature mean that there is no possible outcome except tragedy. These characters try to take action to get out of the traps they are in; they just can’t.
Are you having problems with the murky middle? Questions and comments are open to all.
Community Write-Ins
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Upcoming Classes
The Art of Immersive Setting
Saturday, June 29, 10:30am - 1:30pm Eastern (Zoom)
Building an immersive setting allows the reader to feel they are stepping out of their world and into the world of your story. That is true whether you’re writing fantasy, romance, historical fiction or anything in between.
Setting and place are a collection of details—the right details in the right amount—that will captivate readers. We will uncover the ways to use place and setting to make your story sing. We'll discuss how to make the setting a natural extension of your characters and how to choose the right descriptive details.
We'll focus on how to immerse the reader in the world of your story through sensory images, emotional connection, and word choices--and that's just for starters.
By the end of this class, you will gain an understanding of successful, vivid description; learn the magic of precise, concrete details; learn how to use setting to move your story forward; and understand how description affects atmosphere, mood, and tone.
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liking your style and suggestions. alan