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

Plot Authentic Details

The Middle of every story begins with the entrance to the story world itself. The more exotic and unusual this world, the better the read. 

List sights and sounds, smells and tastes, texture and mood of the setting of your story. 

First list may be general and generic. Refine the list as you refine drafts. Little-by-little find the exact right authentic and unusual and historically-just-right word, detail, object, sensation...

Each day draws me deeper into the exotic and unusual world of a premiere surf spot, The Hook at Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz, California.

The Hook

• Mean age range: 25-30 years old
  
• Principal occupation: surfing
  
• Palm trees tower 
  
• Cypress trees sway in the bay breeze
  
• Fog horn blares
  
• Gulls cry
  
• Surfboards stick out from truck beds, latched atop car roofs
  
• Boys dressed head to toe in black zip by like seals astride bicycles built for two = boy and surfboard
  
• Nightly news tracks high and low tide each day
  
• The aroma of bacon, eggs, and hash browns rolled in flour tortillas waft from a shack known for "rolling fatties"
  
• Girls in uggs, cotton sun dresses, and hoodies 
  
• The smell of seaweed at low tide
• Snippet of conversation: "Hey, dude. The sun's coming out. I might have to go surfing."
• Mexican music floats in on a hazy layer of marine warmth

Thematically, the place reeks of youth and movement and the power of nature, though I have yet to mention the sea...

What are some authentic and unusual details of your story world??