Have you ever baked a cake, removed it from the oven, and found that the middle is undercooked, even if the outside is brown? I won’t lie to you, this happens pretty much every time I bake a cake, and the reason isn’t just because my oven is a mystery. It’s because I’m impatient with cooking. I want to turn up the temperature and have the slice now, and I can’t wait for it to cool down before trying, either.
However, when it comes to writing a novel, I ensure the middle doesn’t fall flat. If you’re writing the middle of your novel currently, or perhaps editing your full draft, and you’ve found that the middle is bowing, don’t panic. We’re going to fix it right now.
When we’re looking at a classic novel structure like Freytag’s Pyramid, the rising action moves swiftly up to the climax, and sometimes, in writing that rising action, our story feels predictable and a little boring. That’s what we mean when we say the middle of a novel is falling flat.
So, what do we need to do? We need to add some excitement to your narrative.
Here are some things to consider:
1) Your midpoint.
A new direction. Your midpoint is a new obstacle, a banana peel in the road that doesn’t just increase tension, it adds an entirely new element to your story. Let’s think about a classic midpoint from popular literature to illustrate the point. In Pride and Prejudice, the midpoint is Darcy’s proposal. This shifts everything. Suddenly, the impossible is possible, the unbelievable believable. Lizzie’s life is thrown in disarray, for if this could be true, what else could be real? She can never look upon Darcy, or the way she views the world, in the same way again.
2) A new deadline.
If you’re looking to raise tension in your novel, add in a new ticking clock, a deadline. Push your protagonist to make a decision, to drive toward their goal, with the threat looming over their shoulder. If you’ve already done this and the middle is still falling flat, ask yourself whether you have made the deadline clear enough, or whether the stakes the deadline introduces are high enough. For example, if in Cinderella the deadline of midnight was looming, but nothing would change except for the colour of her dress, we wouldn’t worry so much for her. However, she understands that at midnight her horses will turn into mice, which, as a horsewoman myself, sounds like a nightmare. Forget the prince, I don’t know how I’m supposed to remove a saddle from a mouse.
3) A shifted dynamic.
Add something in to make your protagonist change, an event that will impact not only their goal, but also how they reach it. What we’re talking about here is making sure your main character is developing properly and enough to be interesting. Perhaps they take a class in sword fighting, or maybe they realise the amulet they wore around their neck is magic, after all.
If you’re struggling with a flat middle, an undercooked centre, or a soggy bottom, try these three things to add some dynamism back into your narrative!
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Check these similar reads out for more craft help:
What’s the Difference Between External Plot and Internal Plot?
What Is ‘The Sacred Flaw’ In Writing?
