April 15, 2011

Excitement gets us started on a novel. Enthusiasm rekindles (usually) near the finish as momentum picks up and we see the end in sight.

But what about the miserable middle? What about that time where you feel like you’re on a treadmill that’s not moving any closer to the finish line?

[Point of clarity: I don't mean when you write the middle chapters of a novel. I'm talking about getting through the middle months (or years) of writing a novel. The beginning part is where you write your rough draft. The ending is where you polish and proofread and submit it.]

The middle is everything else–and it’s a lot of work!

Characteristics of the Middle

The middle is where the rubber meets the road, in my opinion. Pretty much everyone can write a rough draft of a novel. If you join NaNoWriMo, you can accomplish that rough draft in a month or less. Likewise, pretty much everyone can proofread and tweak a nearly finished novel. It’s nitpicky (and a bit boring sometimes), but not that hard.

But the middle months? This is where your craft (or lack thereof) shows. The middle months of revising can be depressing as you read your rough draft. Mine always stink–and every time they stink far worse than I am expecting. I’m not sure why I’m still surprised, except maybe I dreamed that one day my rough drafts wouldn’t be so…well…rough.

What Have I Done?

The middle can also be depressing–or maybe overwhelming is a better word–because you can’t see the end. You may have started the novel with a clear idea of where it was going to go, but either (1) it took off in another direction that you now question, or (2) it followed your outline and now you don’t like how it turned out. You’ve lost the thrill of writing a rough draft or just the thrill of the original idea. Now it looks like one big mess.

Many writers quit during the middle months. It’s a time when you learn what you don’t know. (“I can’t write dialogue that sounds like real people!” “I can’t figure out what’s wrong with this opening or where to put the backstory!” “I don’t know how much research to do for my historical novel.”) When the amount of work that is needed looks overwhelming, many writers scrap that project and begin (with excitement) something new.

Is there anything wrong with that? Not really–as long as you realize that this new project will also have a middle to get through. And if you don’t get through middles, you’ll never get to the end–and be published.

Getting Through

On vacation I was able to finish reading The Soul Tells a Story by Vinita Hampton Wright. Here was one of her suggestions for the difficult middle:

“Creative work is multifaceted enough that it’s possible to find rest within it by shifting tasks. Maybe I can’t face the really right-brained creative work today, so this is a perfect time to go back to another section and do some rigorous editing. Switching back and forth between various tasks is perfectly fine for that long middle phase.”

I found this to be great advice on our trip.

Put It Into Practice

I took along my novel to work on if there was time, and thanks to the flight delays, there was. We had to sit in airports for hours–which I don’t mind at all now that I don’t travel with small children. When it was noisy or I was distracted, I worked on a bit of the setting, adding details from my research and from some new brochures I picked up.

When I had a couple of uninterrupted hours (e.g. husband returning the rental car), I had the quiet room to myself and buckled down to do some more intensive “internal work” on the heroine. Since I have a single-spaced six-page list of revision changes to make, I have plenty of big and little jobs to choose from. There’s always something that looks doable and appealing.

The long middles used to feel overwhelming to me. Occasionally they still do when a novel is giving me fits. For the most part, though, I enjoy the variety of the middle. You get to deepen characters, paint detailed settings, etc. which is much more fun to me than checking for misplaced commas.

How do you feel about the middle of projects? And has it changed over the years?

3 Comments »

1. 

   I’ve got a WIP – my first novel. I’ve finished writing (WRITING – not Editing)the first third and I’m feeling all of the ‘middle’ things you’ve been talking about! I am having the hardest time sitting down to write the middle of the book – suddenly my ideas feel so pathetic and lame and of little good. When I find my hands are wanting to be busy, I pick up that (dreaded)old cross-stitch I’ve been working on forever because it is more appealing than those middle chapters! I’m trying to pull up my socks and make myself sit to my WIP daily, but I have so many other crafty WIPs that it is SO easy to push writing to the back burner. I should lock everything away until my writing is done!

   Comment by Andrea — April 15, 2011 @ 9:11 am

2. 

   I’m about to face revising my first novel ever, so your post was perfectly timed. I therefore can’t share experience on this issue yet, but I greatly appreciate your advice.

   Comment by Tina M — April 15, 2011 @ 9:49 pm

3. 

   Andrea, my current “middle” is a muddled mess too. I had to smile at your dreaded cross-stitch.

   Tina, sometimes it just helps to know that others are in the same boat. Be encouraged when you hit the middle!

   Comment by Kristi Holl — April 16, 2011 @ 6:10 pm

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