Writing Fiction - Conquering Your Story Middle

Talk to most writers about their stories and they'll typically have the same answer: "Opens with the bang, ends with a boom, sags in the middle."

Most writers have no trouble starting and ending their story or novel. It's the middle they get hung up on. They'll get fifty or so pages into the tale and the hammer falls. They get stuck and the story grinds to a squealing stop. Often, they'll have some vague notions of what happens in the middle but no more than that.

So how do you conquer your story's middle? Here are two simple methods of constructing the middle that will ensure you get through to the end. 

• The Failed Solutions Method
• The Rock Throwing Method

The Failed Solutions Method
Think of this as method as "two steps forward, one step back."

In this method, your main character sets out to overcome the story problem. As soon as they put that first solution into play, it fails. They attempt an alternate solution. That, too, fails. Yet another solution. Yet another failure. Over and over until they hit on the solution that finally works. At that point, the story moves toward the ending.

Simple enough, right?

The next method's also fairly simple.

The Rock Throwing Method
There's a great shorthand description of story construction that goes like this: "Get your hero up a tree. Throw rocks at him. Get him down from the tree."

The story middle is where you throw rocks at your hero.

That means you put obstacles in his way that keep him from directly solving the story problem. You make things hard. If he's trying to reach the magic sword, the Dark Lord's henchmen and minions attack him at every turn. If he's trying to solve the disappearance of the rich débutante, this is where he finds red herrings, puzzling clues, and heavies that harass him.

Get the picture?

You can even combine the two methods. When your main character attempts a solution to the story problem, the henchmen attack. Let's say, for example, you're writing a fantasy novel and your hero has to find the magic sword to save the kingdom. First, he must seek out the old sage who knows the location of said sword. When he find the sage, have him encounter the villain's henchmen. Better yet, have the henchmen kidnap the sage. Now the hero must rescue the sage and defeat the henchmen before he can learn the location of the sword.

Now that you have these two methods to choose from (or use at the same time), the question becomes: How many failed solutions do you use in your story? How many thrown rocks? How many of both?

The answer depends on your story. Given the situation, the characters, the story problem, and the envisioned beginning and ending, the actual number will vary. Perhaps one to three for a short story. Maybe six to eight, or ten or more for a novel. There's really no hard and fast rule for this; again, depends on the story you're looking to tell.