This week I have my writer’s cap on because I am deep in the process of organizing the full draft of my romantic suspense novel so I can hand it off to my first beta reader. Perhaps you’re wondering what, if the draft is fully written, am I organizing? Like many writers, I don’t write chapters in sequential order. I leave the final order of the chapters until I finish everything. And this process comes with a set of challenges, especially when I find myself lost in the middle of my story.
Many writers might say the hardest part of the book to write is the beginning. Not me. I’m great at writing the beginning of any book, short story or flash fiction that I’ve done. I start with the beginning chapter, and I usually write the last chapter next. And then I go where the story takes me. I do this by writing scenes and putting them together into chapters that make for a consistent and coherent flow.
It might be a good time to tell you that I am a pantser not a plotter. I laugh every time I read this description of a pantser by science fiction author, Pierce Brown:
“Some writers are plotters… I, on the other hand, have the curse and rabid delight of being a pantser. I sit down at my computer every day praying for a lightning strike.”
Yup. That’s pretty much what happens. I have tried the logical, outlined approach but I found that I would end up tossing the outline as my story took me places I hadn’t foreseen. When your characters are chatting with you in the middle of the night, it’s hard to stuff them back into an outline.
Right now, it is the middle that is giving me a headache. The middle is vital, because if, as the author, I don’t get the pacing and connections to flow coherently, my beta reader might be lost in a story thread that doesn’t make sense. Often, as I gather the middle chapters, I end up moving the beginning chapters around. It is in these moments that I wish I was more of a plotter. If I was, I’d have all my chapters neatly organized from the get-go and not be in this muddle of a middle I am in right now.
It’s a bit like knitting a scarf starting with the ends and hoping that what you knit will meet in the middle. If you are picturing the middle as a few lonely chapters in the center of a book, let me disabuse you of that notion. The middle is the majority of the book. In the middle is where a reader will find escalating conflicts, plot twists, foreshadowing, and character development, all of it surrounding the midpoint of the story – that point of no return that shifts everything and starts the journey towards the climax and denouement.
I’ve decided to take the advice of Kristi Korzec, writer/producer who has said:
“You fall into that spiral. Step out and go and get in the shower and let the water run over you and something will click.”
And she’s right. Whether organizing the chapters or stuck writing, moving away from it means I come back re-energized with fresh eyes and things move more quickly. It’s the same thing I need to do when feeling overwhelmed decluttering my office or developing a workshop. Even looking around my home at the cleaning chores piling up can have me in that muddle of a middle.
I think, writer or not, everyone gets that stuck in the middle feeling – maybe in a relationship, at work or when following a wellness plan where everything seems to grind to a halt for a period of time. I invite you this week to think about where it is in your own life that you might be squarely in the middle. Are you comfortable there, or do you feel trapped and unsure how to get moving again? If so, step out of the spiral and do some self-care.
As always, I’m sending compassion to all in need.
Love,
Cathleen
If you are looking for a burst in creativity, join me and fellow writer, Paula Chaffee Scardamalia, in late September (26-28) for a special weekend of creative sparks. Be part of a small group of women creatives investing in their own creative process in new and innovative ways.
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