Problems With A Sagging Middle

Stirling

Stirling

And no, I meant the novel not my waistline!.

Okay, the beginning is brilliant, and the ending is brilliant.  However, sections in the middle aren't just sagging, they are in desperate need of some liposuction.

Some paragraphs need to cut completely, some are completely devoid of tension.  Any advice or recommendation of good books/websites that will help me.

Thanks.

Amanda

probably is a little hollow taking advice from a novice like myself but have you tried asking the characters?  What event or twist could take place in the middle to provide the tummy tuck? i have been having simular problems until i sat and wrote out the characters life historys (briefly) i realised i could bring in some past history to cause extra conflict and resolve before the final ending. just a thought. as for cutting just pretend its a rose and go for it the more you cut the better it grows....  good luck!

SilentTony

Again a novice in the novel field. But may I suggest throwing a bomb in there. Look at the scenes and ask yourself if something very dramatic happened out of the blue (though obviously connected with the plot) how would this change the way your characters react. Would it move the plot along more dramatically, would it add tension, would it deepen the story?

Island Girl

When nothing much is happening, introduce a man with a gun.

Not literally of course but try livening it up with a twist or a small 'event'. Again, total novice suggesting ideas, here so take advice with extreme caution.  :-)

Radames

Stirling - I'm reading a good book at the moment about plotting and structuring. I'm nearly at the end of "beginning" (hope you understand that!) and tomorrow I should have read the section about the middle. If that section is as good as what I've read so far, I'll let you know.

Radames

That was convoluted, but it's late here!

courierjohn

Darn you Stirling, I was hoping your post WAS about waistlines. I thought I had found a kindred spirit.
Oh well, excuse me while I loosen my waistband
(sighs)

Katy

Me too - I thought you were going to offer a sure-fire cure for my middle-aged spread! ;-) On a more helpful note, I've just received the e-mail bulletin from Debut Daggers following the shortlisting of the recent competition. I know you're writing a crime novel, so posted below are some extracts (from the Debut Dagger chair Margaret Murphy) that might be useful? Sorry if it's a bit long, but there might be some useful stuff in here?

The best entries showcased a variety of writing skills: establishment of character, good dialogue, action, description of setting, moments of tension and suspense. The synopsis managed to include the main characters and plot elements, without overloading the reader with information; it was plausible, but surprising – the internal logic of the work maintaining its integrity, while being augmented by an imaginative treatment of the subject matter. I know, it’s a tall order, especially with the restrictions of length of submissions, but the brutal reality is that 3000 words is about as far as most agents will read in order to gauge a submission they receive from an unknown writer.

Watch browsers in bookshops – they are attracted by three things: the cover art, the price, the content of first page. If they’re not engaged by the end of page one, they’ll more than likely replace the book on the pile.

A lot of entries achieved that gripping first page, and there were some terrific prologues, but the trick is to sustain that level of engagement over maybe three hundred pages. The two most common causes of failure were the follow-on chapters and the synopsis. So many times we were delighted and excited by a beautifully crafted prologue or first chapter, only to be disappointed by a follow-on that became bogged down in explication and back-story. These details should emerge from dialogue and action later in the story. You have 80 000+ words – take a breath, take your time, expand into the space.

Layout was a huge bugbear. You might consider this petty – it isn’t. Playing with form and testing the boundaries are both fine, but if you get it wrong for no other reason than failing to read the competition requirements for presentation, it’s just plain off-putting. The style guide uses the industry standard and should be adhered to unless you have made careful, reasoned choices in flouting the conventions. Good layout makes easy reading, bad layout jars the reader out of what John Gardner calls the fictional dream. He says that reading fiction is like entering a dreamlike state – anything that jars will wake the reader from the dream. Effectively, the reader stops believing in the fictional world you’ve created.

Dialect should be used with great caution. Think of a work of fiction as a contract between the reader and the writer. The writer agrees to create a plausible, coherent entertaining fictional world and the reader agrees to bring his or her imagination, experience and intelligence to the work. So telling the reader what they should ‘hear’ when a northern lass or a cockney sparrow speaks is to insult their intelligence. This also chimes with Gardner’s advice on not jarring the reader.

Top tips

Make sure you’ve adhered to the competition rules. Use a tick-list if you have to!
Set your work aside for a month and re-read it before sending it in. It’s surprising what temporal distance can do for objectivity – you’ll find yourself reading as the intelligence reader, rather than the passionate writer.
Ask trusted friends to read the work. I know, you tried that, and they all said it was great. So give them something specific to look for: Is the layout right? Is punctuation and spelling correct? Ask them to look out for repeated words or phrases. Are there any moments of confusion? Can they tell who the main protagonist is? Do they care about the main characters?
Join a writers’ group – Susan Runholt, whose work was Highly Commended by the 2005 Debut Dagger judges, values the input of her writers’ group. It might take a couple of tries to find the right one, but give it a go – what have you got to lose?
Read your work aloud, off the printed page, not the screen. You’ll discover the clumsy phrase, the words that don’t quite have enough punch or resonance.
Write about what you know. Not that I’m advocating a spate of violent crime in the interests of art, y’understand – but you can research the facts of police procedure, the working of the criminal mind, the setting of your novel. All of these things will bring the work to life.
Where does your story start? If it’s really at Chapter 3 (but the first two chapters set the scene), you need to rethink. The great thing about fiction is you don’t have to explain everything or even start at the beginning – you DO have to engage the reader. Consider shuffling chapters around or (horror) deleting chapters or scenes if they don’t enhance the reading experience.
A few people had a crime at the start of their submission, but it was almost incidental to the rest of the story; a trigger for events, perhaps, but not the main thrust of the work. Crime fiction must have the crime at its centre – and this should be clear by the end of the first chapter.

Finally, a few suggestions to sharpen your writing style.

Choose your three favourite novels of all time – children’s or adult fiction, crime, romance, SF, fantasy, horror or literary, it doesn’t matter. Read the first chapter analytically. What makes you engage with the characters, the narrative, the plot? How does the author make you want to read on to chapter two?
Now try the same thing with your three favourite (recent) crime novels. Many of the techniques will be the same – because, hey, good writing is good writing, but if there are differences, what are they, and how does the novelist achieve these effects?

Vijay

WELL DONE Katy!
Priceless advice, I'm gonna try and save this somehow. Stick it on the wall in front of me and keep staring at it in a Zen like state and hope it sinks in! The advice on the first three chapters is really valid.

Island Girl

That was a good posting, Katy. I can use most of the information you presented for the 'romance' novel I've been struggling over. Thanks.

(Courier John, I'm with you. Although if this thread was titled "Problems wiht a middle that expands beyond all reasonable scientific explanation" I might have really pricked up my ears!)

Stirling

I think that's the longest post I've ever seen Katy!.

I like the ides of putting a bomb in there.  It's got me thinking.

I was wondering whether it would be worth writing a detailed synopsis (outline?).  Could that possibly help?.

Radames

Stirling - the book I mentioned earlier is "Plot & Structure" by James Scott Bell. I like it, and it has made me rethink and rework what I'm working on now. In the chapter about "middles", there's even a section titled "How to trim an overweight middle".

Stirling

Spooky.

I think I might have that book.  I'm off to delve into my archives.

(When I say archives I mean the crates of books I have stashed in the loft).

megrose

Thanks Katy.  I've copied and pasted it - lots of good advice.