Writing Advice: The Middle

You began typing the moment you had an idea. You started off strong. Now three lines in, or three pages, you've reached your first stumbling block: what happens next?

With prompts and experience, most writers can get started. I've given you several starters and graphic organizers for this project. Getting started should not have been too much of a problem if you completed these assignments. What's difficult is continuing through a murky middle. Here are some tips to slog through the worst part of your writing experience:

1. Most of the time we get stuck when we don't know what our characters want. Give your character a motive (a desire, or goal, etc.) to keep him/her moving forward.
2. Forward march: Move the plot forward by adding conflict and action. Involve your characters in a specific action or direct conflict with another character. This is particularly helpful if you are bored.
3. Put yourself in your protagonist's shoes: go inside a character's head. This is a common error that young writers constantly forget to do. Get your character's perspective. What would you think in a similar situation? What would you see if you were in this scene? What would you notice? What would you say? What would you do?
4. Skip forward in time. No one said this plot has to be chronological. Advance the time period and move forward with the plot. Skip a line to indicate you've changed time (either forward or backward).
5. Skip to another setting/location. Move your character to a new setting or scene. What happens there? Describe the setting/location, and the actions of minor characters. REMEMBER: every NEW scene or setting or location needs a new slug line. 

6. Skip to a different protagonist or the perspective of a new character. 

7. Press forward: If you need more time to research details and don't want to stop to look up a fact or information, indicate what you need to look up by BOLDING or CAPITALIZING a note to yourself. You can also insert NOTES using your word processor feature under the insert menu.
8. Skip to the next major plot point. If you know where the story is going, but don't know yet how to get there, skip and write the next scene.
9. Go back to brainstorming. Use your journal, graphic organizers, etc. to try out some new things. If you don't know (or are stuck on):

• Your characters: write a character sketch, draw a picture of your character, or develop your character's background history
• Your setting: draw your setting, find a picture of an appropriate setting on the internet, describe your setting using imagery--what sounds, smells, tastes, textures, and sights would one experience in the setting
• Your plot: list possible challenges or problems that a character might face in a similar situation or setting. Decisions characters make (or don't make) often create conflict. Create a mind map or use a graphic organizer to focus on plot elements.
• Your theme: create a premise for your story. What do you want to communicate about the human condition? What lesson or experience are you trying to relate?

 You are not really stuck unless you refuse to go forward. Writers block is a state of mind, not an actual thing.