Today, I want to share my sixth of eight techniques for tackling sagging middles in your manuscript: weaving emotionally charged action into your narrative.
Emotional intensity doesn’t always necessitate violence, especially when there are so many flavors of action to choose from.
Whether in crime fiction, where upping the ante could be quite lethal, or in other genres, where a bitter family dispute could serve the same purpose, the key is that these actions are fueled by potent emotions that add that necessary zing to keep your readers hooked.
Hello, Jane Cleland here to talk about idea number six: emotionally charged action, to help cure sagging middles. I’ve been talking about that tendency in the middle of a story for things to begin to drag. Other YouTube shorts have talked about how you recognize it, the difference between a dragging, sagging middle and a leisurely pace. And I’ve gone over a bunch of ideas on what to do to fix it, including the importance of considering combining some of these ideas.
Now, I want to talk about number six, which is integrating emotionally charged action. Now, action doesn’t necessarily mean violence. Although those of us that write crime fiction, you know, there’s nothing wrong with killing someone. And you notice that that happens a lot. In mysteries of all kinds, whether it’s a thriller, a traditional mystery, a police procedural, killing someone certainly peps it up. And obviously it’s going to be based on some kind of emotion fueling that action.
But it also could be, you know, depending on your reader expectations, the genre you’re working in, it could be relatives having an acrimonious fight, really sarcastic and nasty. That’s emotionally charged. And it’s action. Action comes in all different kinds of flavors.
Now, if you want more information about this and all of my ideas on overcoming the sag, uh, the webinar on the topic, “Plotting Perfection, Overcoming Saggy Middles with Ever Escalating Action,” is available for rent on my website, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject. What kind of action have you introduced in the middle of the book, or story, to really give it some pep and vigor? Do write them down in the comment section. If this YouTube short had value for you, would you like it? Would you share it? Would you subscribe to the channel? That opens up features that let us make these videos even more valuable for you. Thank you.
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