Sagging Middles

When I talk about sagging middles, I am usually talking about one of my works in progress. I don’t know why, but the middle is always the hardest part of the book for me to write. I bog down, wonder why I thought the idea was so great to begin with. I begin to question my characters and their motivations, second-guessing myself. Its weird—the first part of the book usually flies. The last part usually flies because I am on a deadline and I have to wrap it up. But that sagging middle takes the most work to de-sag it.

Working through that middle takes a lot of mulling over, muddling, and really crappy writing before I have something I can work with. Once I have something down on paper, and I can go back and trim it, tighten it up, tone it into an appealing middle you’ll want to read.