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In honor of NaNoWriMo, this month Fable and the Verbivore are talking about beginnings, middles, and endings.

Today, we're talking about the midpoint of a story. Middles can be hard to write - keeping the story momentum moving forward and maintaining reader attention as you build to your ending can be a challenge.

In our conversation, we talk about possible ways to think about this middle section and some ideas for how to keep the story growing and changing - and how to avoid it falling into a slump or dragging. We touch on several ways to change up the tempo of the story and include some examples of midpoints from books and film. Here are a few:

• The False Victory - A momentary victory that is achieved at great cost. Example: The Hunger Games

• The False Defeat - An attempt to reach the goal that fails spectacularly, but lessons are learned which help identify an alternate path. Example: The Martian

• A Major Event Happens - A game, ball, celebration, battle, or [insert other major event here] occurs, which promises to be important. It does end up being significant, but often in unexpected ways and spins the story off in a new direction. Example: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

• A Shift in Context - An assumed truth is revealed to be wrong or the antagonist shifts from the person we thought to someone else. Example: Coraline

• Character Midpoint Collision - The conflict between who a character has been and who they’re attempting to become comes to a head. They take a leap forward, try out their strength, and discover a new skill or strategy. Example: Collateral

We hope you enjoy this episode! Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!

Into the woods,

Fable & The Verbivore

Notes:

In case you’re unfamiliar with NaNoWriMo, here is some information: https://nanowrimo.org/what-is-nanowrimo

Both Fable and the Verbivore mention that there’s a variety of ways to approach writing the middle of a story. Here are some articles that we found helpful in preparation for this conversation:

• “Collateral — The Midpoint Collision by Lessons” From the Screenplay

• “How to Use a Midpoint” by Tyler Mowery

• “The Midpoint | The Craft of…” by Macabre Storytelling

• The Write Practice “The Secret to Writing the Middle of a Story”

• Save the Cat “Cracking the Midpoint: The False Victory”

• Story Grid “the Power of Three”

• Anne Rallen “The Biggest Writing Craft Issue New Novelists Face, and 7 Ways to Avoid It.”

• The Writing Kylie “A Seven Point Story Structure Case Study of The Hunger Games”

• Now Novel “How to write the middle of your novel: 9 tips”

Books & Movies Mentioned:

• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

• Coraline by Neil Gaiman

• The Shadow and Bone Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

• The Matrix: Directed by The Wachowski’s

• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling  

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

• The Martian: Directed by Ridley Scott

• Collateral: Directed by Michael Mann

Music from: https://filmmusic.io
’Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)