Are you grappling with a narrative that’s lost its momentum, leaving you with that dreaded saggy middle? Today’s video tackles this common challenge head-on. My advice? Introduce a really difficult obstacle that can rejuvenate your story!
It’s my fifth of eight strategies (you can find the previous examples on my playlist) for overcoming the mid-story slump that plagues so many plots.
I explore the transformative power of throwing curveballs at your characters, whether through physical hurdles, emotional upheavals, or the intricate dance of plot twists. These are the moments that hook readers and propel them through the pages.
Hello, Jane Cleland here to talk about my fifth idea on how to cure saggy middles. The saggy middle is that section of your story or book where things begin to drag. In other YouTube stories, I’ve talked about how to identify that you have a problem, the difference between a leisurely pace and a sag, and I’ve gone over other of my ideas. I have eight total. This is number five, and it is to introduce a really difficult obstacle, a major obstacle.
One of the reasons that middles begin to sag is that things are going along too smoothly. Now, if you’re a plotter, you might have your through-line plot, and what ends up happening is things are going a little too through-line. You need tangles. You need twists and turns. And, um, if you’re not a plotter, you may just really have your eye on the prize of getting your protagonist from point A to point B. Boom. Let’s get there.
We need to diverge. We need to have some obstacles. Really make them bad. Get someone injured. Get someone arrested. Get someone in trouble in a way that is unanticipated. But it could also be emotional. Maybe their partner, whether that’s a lover, a husband, a wife, whoever—a partner—let them break up. That’ll really throw you for a loop if it’s unexpected.
So, a major obstacle. Now, if you want to know more about this, the webinar on the topic, “Plotting Perfection: How to Overcome Sagging Middles with Ever Escalating Conflict,” is available for rent on my website. And I’d love to hear from you. What you’ve come up with—what kind of obstacles have you put in the middle? Write them down in the comment section. I really would enjoy knowing.
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