You're so bored and awkward you just want to run away screaming. Or curl into a corner and die.
This is the Middle of your novel.
And yes, it is very scary.
This is going to be a shorter post because really the best cure for the Middle (and sometimes for WB) is a good strong dose of CONFLICT.
Conflict is the most important part of any story. But unfortunately you can't just throw random conflict in any part of a book. Like, randomly, in the middle of a heartfelt mommy-daughter hug, ninjas, when the book is about pirates, bust into the cabin and kill everyone. Well, I guess you could make this work, but really it's most most important to make sure the conflict moves the story forward.
Conflict should always contribute to a storyline in some way. It should never drag a story down or slow the progress of the plot, but advance it and cause the hero to make some hard decisions. It's true that conflict doesn't always have to be some physical battle between your hero and his enemy. Conflict comes in many packages: emotional, physical, natural, etc.
1. Physical Conflict
Physical conflict is the most common form of conflict ever. Physical conflict consists of your hero faces physical foes, such as the villain, thugs on the street, getting run over by a car, and battling a monkey over his bike lock keys. Physical conflict is a very good and convenient way to add spice to a boring piece of prose, since you can make PC out of almost any situation. The important thing to remember while dealing with PC, though, is to make it significant. Don't let it be something the hero brushes off as he gets ready for the real deal; make it important. Make it worthy of his time. If thugs attack, make them take his wallet with his secret agent ID in it. If a monkey takes his keys, don't let him have them back. If a bus breaks down, make it burst into flames. Don't make it easy. >:}
2. Emotional Conflict
Being a girl, this is my favorite type of conflict. I love this kind of conflict because it adds depth to your characters and shows that they, too, have problems with their lives sometimes. Emotional conflict consists of your character in a battle against his emotions, or someone else's. Sometimes, your hero can even be at war with himself, in a general term. For instance, my character Eadën competes with his emotions on a daily basis. His past haunts him and he wants to get away from it, and he is afraid of himself because part of him wants to hold on to his dark side. This causes awesome EC. He is fighting against himself to forget what he did in his past.
2. Natural Conflict
Natural conflict is conflict that comes from natural sources, mainly nature. Storms, floods, tornadoes, rockslides, and avalanches all count as NC. Natural conflict works best in books where the villain is nature (such as a novel about a lost boy who wants to get home from the forest he was deserted in and must face the elements in order to get back to his house, for instance), but they are useful in all novels as momentary conflicts. I know it is really hard to get NC to do something that matters in a novel, but it is possible. One way to make sure is to keep the bad things coming.
Things should never, ever, ever be easy for you protagonist. You should always keep throwing stuff at him until he cracks, and then throw some more. Always make things as bad as possible. Could this get any worse? should be his motto. That is how you create good conflict in a novel.
Ciao,
A.C.
1. Physical Conflict
Physical conflict is the most common form of conflict ever. Physical conflict consists of your hero faces physical foes, such as the villain, thugs on the street, getting run over by a car, and battling a monkey over his bike lock keys. Physical conflict is a very good and convenient way to add spice to a boring piece of prose, since you can make PC out of almost any situation. The important thing to remember while dealing with PC, though, is to make it significant. Don't let it be something the hero brushes off as he gets ready for the real deal; make it important. Make it worthy of his time. If thugs attack, make them take his wallet with his secret agent ID in it. If a monkey takes his keys, don't let him have them back. If a bus breaks down, make it burst into flames. Don't make it easy. >:}
2. Emotional Conflict
Being a girl, this is my favorite type of conflict. I love this kind of conflict because it adds depth to your characters and shows that they, too, have problems with their lives sometimes. Emotional conflict consists of your character in a battle against his emotions, or someone else's. Sometimes, your hero can even be at war with himself, in a general term. For instance, my character Eadën competes with his emotions on a daily basis. His past haunts him and he wants to get away from it, and he is afraid of himself because part of him wants to hold on to his dark side. This causes awesome EC. He is fighting against himself to forget what he did in his past.
2. Natural Conflict
Natural conflict is conflict that comes from natural sources, mainly nature. Storms, floods, tornadoes, rockslides, and avalanches all count as NC. Natural conflict works best in books where the villain is nature (such as a novel about a lost boy who wants to get home from the forest he was deserted in and must face the elements in order to get back to his house, for instance), but they are useful in all novels as momentary conflicts. I know it is really hard to get NC to do something that matters in a novel, but it is possible. One way to make sure is to keep the bad things coming.
Things should never, ever, ever be easy for you protagonist. You should always keep throwing stuff at him until he cracks, and then throw some more. Always make things as bad as possible. Could this get any worse? should be his motto. That is how you create good conflict in a novel.
Ciao,
A.C.
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