Like many of my friends and acquaintances, you might be in the midst of the sheer madness that is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The goal: to write a book (yes, sir, that’s right a whole book) in (gasp) 30 days!
For those of you who have hung in, congratulations. We have just crossed the midpoint! We are halfway to our 50k/30 day goal. This is a good time to bring up todays tip: think about the middle of your book. This is the paint at which, even during a regular writing schedule, you might find your story lagging.
Some things to keep in mind at this point:
- This is the point at which something should be happening to change your characters from being reactive to being proactive
- There should be some sort of big event that drives the story forward and changes your characters outlook. Has there been a death? Has deceit been exposed? Your characters still have so much to overcome.
- Whatever happens here should be a logical progression of the events that happened in the beginning of the book
- The tension and/or action should still be increasing. You don’t want the story to slow down.
- If you’re having trouble with the middle and just can’t seem to get past it, jump to the end. Don’t give up. You can come back and fill in the middle when you have a better idea of what it’s leading to.