Writing Tip of the Week
Writing Tip of the Week
Random Thoughts from a Rangy Mind On:
Mid-Section Blahs – A Self-Inflicted Wound?
I encountered a young writer who was worked up over the mid-section of his novel, or, as he called it, “my literary swamp.” Mid-section swamps or blahs or whatever term you choose is a recurring topic whenever authors and agents get together. Editor Elizabeth Lyon wrote, “In my editing business, one of the most common weaknesses I see in the middle of a writer’s work is disorganization – of sentences, paragraphs, and sections. I was reminded of a song by Steelers Wheel.
???????????Yes, I’m stuck in the middle with you
???????????And I’m wondering what it is I should do
???????????It’s so hard to keep this smile from my face
???????????Losing control, yeah, I’m all over the place
It doesn’t have to be that way.
Certainly, once a story gets moving, it needs to keep up the momentum. The narrative must flow on to the cherished “The End” in a manner that assures that the reader will finish the journey. A slowdown in the middle becomes a major obstacle. In a screenplay, the mid-section takes up 60 of the standard 120 pages. Using that as a yardstick, regardless of the number of pages, the mid-section covers half the book. The mid-section of a novel is a big chunk ‘o words. I believe that thought is the root cause of the blahs some many writers think they encounter.
I say think because it seems to me that the mid-course slowdown is a self-inflicted wound. Writers have heard so much about the challenges of the mid-section, that they believe getting bogged down is just part of the process. Like the English explorer, Robert Falcon Scott, they believe they have to engage in man-hauling - pulling sleds across the Antarctic by manpower – to get themselves out of the morass.
Lest we forget, Scott and his men froze to death on the ice.
All life is energy. Thought turns energy into reality. It’s a simple matter of engaging the law of attraction. If you think you’re going to face a mid-section slowdown, you will. Your subconscious mind will take that negative thought and turn it into a slog through literary molasses – because that’s what you told it to do. Descartes called it. “I think, therefore I am.” The writer thinks he’s going to encounter the midway blahs, therefore he does.
I can’t tell you how to swim out of that molasses. Betty Webb suggests killing off a main character and that would certainly shake things up. Authors could also try tossing in a person or event completely out of left field and then let their brains stew on what could come of that.
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The left field approach approaches the reason I don’t encounter the mid-book slump. I have no experience with the problem. As a practitioner of Writing Into The Dark, I am constantly surprised by what happens in my novels. I’m never bored because I never know what’s coming next. I expect that ongoing excitement to be therefor me and therefore it am… it is. My only suggestion for those wondering “what I should do,” is to stop thinking so much and follow your gut instinct. Your subconscious wants to help if you will only allow it to do its thing, which is to put an end to your blahs, keep the momentum going, and bring the reader along all the way to “The End.”
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Mark Your Calendars: Desert Foothills Book Festival Oct. 21st, 2023
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Quote of the Week: “Micromanaging your characters and THEIR story is a complete waste of time, and only writers who are scared the story won’t be good enough do it. Their fear forces them to try to “think” their way through a story, and that ruins it.” Harvey Stanbrough
Recommended Reading: The Writer’s Mentor – Secrets of Success from the World’s Great Writers by Ian Jackman, editor
Recommended Online: [email protected]
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? Dan Baldwin 2023
"The author is a live human being. I do not include content generated by AI (Artificial Intelligence) software of any kind."??
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