I'm at the mushy middle...

[Grimbold]

*Thumps head against the wall in morse code for Hello*

I'm at that point where the momentum from the sudden explosion at the start of the story has faded but i'm not at the big dipper moment of the exiting final few chapters where the cliffhangers loom and things go ahead.

That feels-like-honey-spread-on-mushy-peas-and-ladled-with-quicksand part of the middle where it seams to slow down.

I was planning to have a large battle for the city at the end, but i'm thinking about moving it forward to the middle and finding something else for the ending (planning at least two books anyway so i could move something from second to end of first).

EDIT: I'm near the end of chapter seven, and have enough solid/sure notes to get me through to chapter 9-12, and i've planned roughly for about 20 chapters...But of course i got the timings wrong as i always do so i realised i didn't plan enough so i'm having a while now resorting everything out

But i'm not convinced. I know i need something big in the middle to keep things going, and i'm not sure what, sure a battle would help, but i dont know anything else that could keep it going....any ideas/help/a foglight would be amazing

 

[danr62]

Do you outline ahead of time? A good idea is to outline just a few points, like your beginning, your ending, and a big "all hell breaks loose" point in the middle.

Then you can further fill in your outline with all the in-between stuff or just start writing with those points as your general guideline.

 

[Leif Notae]

I just read a nice article here about this problem. Hope this helps.

CPR and Life Support for Your Part 2 Story Segment

 

[Devor]

There's more than one kind of conflict. It might be time for one of your subplots to explode in a way that connects with the main conflict.

 

[Ireth]

I think you may find this both interesting and helpful: jimbutcher: The Great Swampy Middle

 

[Penpilot]

Google up mid-point climax. In the middle of a story you need either a false triumph or a false defeat, a big moment were big things change. These changes propel the story through the second half and to the end.

 

[wordwalker]

I just read a nice article here about this problem. Hope this helps. CPR and Life Support for Your Part 2 Story Segment

I think you may find this both interesting and helpful: jimbutcher: The Great Swampy Middle

Two bookmarkable posts. I especially like the first for its sense of urgency; Brooks gets dogmatic about structure, but the start of the middle may really be that key a moment, when the reader just wants to be sold on you taking things up a further notch or off a fun twist.

It all comes down to knowing your characters and world, and plotting to dig into what they're doing to push toward your climaxes.

 

[saellys]

I know i need something big in the middle to keep things going, and i'm not sure what, sure a battle would help, but i dont know anything else that could keep it going....any ideas/help/a foglight would be amazing

The middle is where your characters' decisions influence the direction of your plot. If you know your characters well enough, you'll know where to go in the middle. If you don't know your characters, your readers won't either, and a battle won't help because no one will care about the outcome.

 

[Xaysai]

*Thumps head against the wall in morse code for Hello*

I'm at that point where the momentum from the sudden explosion at the start of the story has faded but i'm not at the big dipper moment of the exiting final few chapters where the cliffhangers loom and things go ahead.

That feels-like-honey-spread-on-mushy-peas-and-ladled-with-quicksand part of the middle where it seams to slow down.

I was planning to have a large battle for the city at the end, but i'm thinking about moving it forward to the middle and finding something else for the ending (planning at least two books anyway so i could move something from second to end of first).

EDIT: I'm near the end of chapter seven, and have enough solid/sure notes to get me through to chapter 9-12, and i've planned roughly for about 20 chapters...But of course i got the timings wrong as i always do so i realised i didn't plan enough so i'm having a while now resorting everything out

But i'm not convinced. I know i need something big in the middle to keep things going, and i'm not sure what, sure a battle would help, but i dont know anything else that could keep it going....any ideas/help/a foglight would be amazing

What if you had a medium battle where the city is taken by the bad guys in the middle, then a LARGE battle at the end where they take it back?

 

[Butterfly]

This Itch of Writing: The Thirty Thousand Doldrums

 

[wordwalker]

The middle is where your characters' decisions influence the direction of your plot. If you know your characters well enough, you'll know where to go in the middle. If you don't know your characters, your readers won't either, and a battle won't help because no one will care about the outcome.

This Itch of Writing: The Thirty Thousand Doldrums

Superb points. The Doldrums piece is a serious wake-up call starting with one key statement: "for some reason... round about the 25-30,000 words seems to be the sticking point for many writers. The odd thing is that the 30k doldrums seem to happen at that point whatever the natural length of your novels." It raises some real questions about what that point may mean for the creative process, about both replenishing energy and reevaluating what openings the story has started to give you.

Saellys, you nailed it, middle=characters. If the start is a Big Bang and/or showing the basics about the characters, what comes next is where they have the freedom to show their own spin on both the world and what's under their own broader traits... and that depth is what the readers are hungering for. We found out the MC's a Valiant Prince; this is the time to show how he's a little reluctant about the war, or lets his allies goad him into different mistakes, and why these things can happen and how they shape what's next. Show what's in their heads by how it starts angling the plot, and how they build what no other book would do and how this story couldn't have come out any other way.

 

[Addison]

That mushy pudding middle is common. Using the cooking analogy, you just go back to the part before it went to mush and find where you added too much water, milk or eggs and increase the flour and powders. Let's say, for different example, tthe part of the story before the mush has a young lady who was in a terrible accident and she survives. Go back, think it over, and you may find that she should die. Her death could be the thickener you needed.