If you’re floundering in the middle of your novel, here is a collection of articles (with highlights) that will jump start you toward the end.

Tightening the Sagging Middle by Alicia Rasley

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Highlights: The important middle scenes develop conflict and explore the setting, characters, and theme, while moving the plot forward.

The plot purpose is the most obvious– the middle scenes present most of the events of the story, showing how each leads into the next. The cause-effect chain of the story events must be strongest here in the middle.

The middle is the time of rising conflict, where the “on-the-brink” situation in the opening chapters gets more and more intense.

Sagging Middles by Vicki Hinze

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Highlights: Often the middle of a novel sags because the writer has not created sufficient conflict to sustain the story.

Remember, conflict is the story’s spine. It creates motivation in the characters not only to act, but to act now.

Conflict creates immediacy, evokes strong emotions-and it often offers new perspectives that deepen the existing conflict or create a new conflict.

Tips for firming a sagging middle

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Highlights: Pace and punch – have a read for pace and punch and see if you’re lacking. Pace and punch are key drivers in writing and if you lose them you can let your story go off the boil.

Is the piece emotional? Are you losing sight of what matters to your characters? Remember emotion is the key seller and if you haven’t ‘dug into/tuned in’ enough you may be losing the heart of the story.

That Ol’ Sagging Middle  by Catherine Avril Morris

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Highlights: I was thinking about that sagging middle, not as a writer, but as a reader. The middle of the book is always where things are getting really good. Where I know the characters pretty well, the plot is complex, the stakes are high. I’ve formed some theories about how things are going to go from here, and yet I’m nervous about what’s going to happen next. The middle is a really interesting, layered, complex part of the story.