Anna's Writing Nook: The Messy Middle

Hi guys and welcome back to the Writer’s Nook! Last week I told y’all to get your brain juices flowing and to write some words, so this week’s a sort of check-in and a helpful nudge in case you’re stuck. 

The middle of the story is always the roughest part. Starting is easy, once you’ve got those first words down. Maybe the beginning and end of your story are crystal clear in your head, but like… how do you get from HERE to THERE? What happens in all that blank space?

I literally wish I knew. Unfortunately I’m not an omnipotent entity, so I can’t tell you what kind of brilliant thing you’ll come up with for the middle of your story, however I CAN help you navigate through it.

When I’m planning any kind of story, whether it be a short thing or a novel, I like to make a sort of road map. It’s not a full, detailed outline of every single section/chapter (though some writers do like to do that!), but more like a connect-the-dots type of thing. I have my beginning, that’s the first dot. Then I have the climax or the ending or something I know needs to happen before I type THE END. Then somewhere along the road, in that dismal middle void, I have a couple more plot dots (as I like to call them) to guide me along. They’re usually not important plot dots. A lot of times, it’s a vague idea like “I want them to take a break and have some fun” or “I want a scene where my main character tells this plot-relevant myth to the other characters.” They’re just little kernels of scenes that keep me going on the road toward the ending. I try not to make them too specific or too set in stone, because that actually gets me stuck.

So let’s talk about getting stuck. It happens a lot. Sometimes we get so stuck that we decide to rage-quit and shove that project in the bottom of a drawer for awhile. Make it sit in the corner and think about what it did. We move on and write something else that is much nicer to us. And that’s okay! If you have to set down a story because it’s just not working at the moment, that’s totally fine. But know that even if you’re actively not writing it and don’t wish to be writing it because oh my God it’s so problematic, your brain is still gonna make you think about it. I can promise you that.

That being said, running into a three-foot-tall brick wall doesn’t mean you have to toss out your whole story/idea. That wall is definitely annoying. It’s super in your way. It probably kicked you in the shins. But it is, after all, only three feet high, so theoretically you could just hop over it. Find something to boost you over. Maybe backtrack a little and get a running start. 

I’ll stop talking in metaphors now and actually explain: writer’s block sucks and it will happen, so the best you can do is find a way that works to get yourself out of it. A piece of advice: if you run yourself into a corner with a scene, the problem with it might actually be several sentences or lines or paragraphs back from where you stopped. If you get stuck and don’t know what to say next, chances are you wrapped yourself up with a scene/action/conversation that doesn’t really need to happen. So backtrack a little and read over what you wrote, and then figure out where it took a turn into that corner that simply doesn’t work.

Another way to punch a hole in writer’s block is to just walk away from your project for a bit. I don’t mean put it in time-out, I mean literally get up from your desk or your couch or wherever you write, and go for a walk. Do something else, something that doesn’t involve actively thinking about your story. Watch a show or movie. Read something. Play Animal Crossing for three hours. Even while you’re distracted, your story will still be rattling around at the back of your head. And while you’re doing some other kind of creative thing (yes that includes Animal Crossing), you might have a revelation about that part you’re stuck on. At the very least, you’ll go back to it with a clearer head and will be able to clean out some of the cobwebs.

So, if you’re stuck and have no idea how to get through the middle, here’s some things you can try. First, you guys might’ve learned about this in your English classes at school: the Hero’s Journey. It’s a narrative structure that’s been around literally forever, and a lot of stories you know follow it to a T. Harry Potter. Lord of the Rings. The Odyssey. Percy Jackson. Pretty much any story that involves a protagonist leaving their everyday life to go save someone or find something or follow a goal or embark on a quest follows the Hero’s Journey to some extent. Here’s the full cycle of it:

I find this structure incredibly helpful for navigating the messy middle of a story. And while the Hero’s Journey is often applied specifically to fantasy narratives, it doesn’t have to be. You can use it literally anywhere –– the “journey” doesn’t have to be a literal one. At the heart of the Hero’s Journey, the most important thing is how your character grows and changes over the course of their story. 

This structure makes a great road map, too. It lays out the basic points your character should reach, while leaving them vague enough that you can apply your own story to each of those points. And you’re also free to deviate from it! That’s the fun part! Breaking the rules!

Another thing I’ve found helpful in the past is to make a playlist for your story. Not necessarily a list of songs that fit the mood of it, but a list of songs that inspire different parts of your story. I used the playlist structure for one of the first novels I wrote; I found a bunch of songs that I felt represented certain characters or scenes that could happen, and I used them as a road map. This method might not be for everyone, and it can get sort of tricky depending on what you’re writing, but there’s stories in songs as much as there are in books, so it could be fun to try applying a story from a song into the story you’re writing.

I hope these little tips were helpful to you! Writing is tough. We struggle a lot with our stories, but keep working at it and you’ll get through it! The novel I’m working on right now is one that I started over two years ago, wrote over and over for months, and then finally gave up on at the end of last summer because I could not crack it and all I was doing was frustrating myself and revising in circles. I put it away and wrote something else for a few months, and then this past February (I think? Time isn’t real) I went back to it with a clearer idea of the plot and cranked out three full drafts in like three months (the quarantine helped with that because now I have time to write like all day). Now I’m almost done with the first draft of the sequel, and making plans for a third book. Sometimes all it takes is a step away, a step back, and it does wonders to unravel the mess of plot dots in your head.

I’ll leave you with one final tip: if you’re having trouble getting words on the page or making yourself focus and get stuff done, try setting a goal for yourself. Aim for a certain number of pages, or a certain word count to reach by the end of your writing session. Or simply shut yourself away with your laptop and your phone on Do Not Disturb and tell yourself you’re going to write for the next hour and you’re not allowed to do anything else. Sometimes a hard deadline or goal is what I need to be productive, and it works! 

Good luck and happy writing! Stay safe and healthy, and I’ll see y’all next week. Drop a comment if you have any topic suggestions, and tell me what you’re reading or writing!

See ya next time,

Anna 😎✌🏻