Middle: Territory of the Antagonists

(**Coming soon = 2nd Annual International Plot WriMo 

• Pre-plot new story 
  
• Plot revision of NaNoWriMo
  
• Final test plot before send-off
  

Begins December 1, 2009)

The Middle of a novel, memoir, screenplay encompasses a whooping 1/2 of the scene and page count of the entire story. More writers lose their nerve in the middle of the Middle than in any other spot of the writing process.

Two ways out:
1) Develop a list of all the antagonists that will interfere with the protagonist reaching both her long and short-term goals. (For a list of antagonists, go to: Dramatic Action Plotline.) Once you have the list in place, you'll likely find the need to introduce some of the elements earlier. CAUTION: do not go back and do it now. Make notes to yourself and attend to them in the next rewrite.

2) Develop the exotic, unusual world of the Middle. Once the protagonist moves from the Beginning into the Middle she usually enters a new world -- at least new to her. Let us see, smell, taste, feel, hear that world with the use of authentic details.

Links for more on both the exotic world and the use of antagonists:

First Draft versus Rewrites

Writers Travel Two Journeys

Meaning of Crisis and Climax

5 Benefits of Writing a Truly Awful, Lousy 1st Draft

1) Rather than stop and start over again and again, when you allow yourself to write a truly awful, lousy first draft from beginning to end, you actually finish a draft all the way through.

2) Until you write the end, you do not have a clear grasp of what comes earlier.

3) You accomplish what you set out to do.

4) Once you have a skeleton in place, a writer is able to stand back and "see" her story in an entirely new light

5) One of the greatest benefits of writing a truly awful, lousy 1st draft is that it's all up from there...

For more on the benefits of writing a truly awful, completely lousy 1st draft:

The End Is the Beginning

Writer Self-Sabotage

First Draft Twitters

First Draft versus Rewrites

First Draft Blues