Writer's Wednesday: NaNo Update #2: The Dreaded Middle

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Why can I never, no matter how hard I try to plan, figure out what's going to keep the middle of my books going?

Quick, prop up the middle of that thing!

Seriously, I have oodles of notes of things that should or could happen in the middle of the book--and no idea where or how to bring them in, or in some cases, how they are even relevant. I'm beginning to think it's no use trying to prepare for this stage of the draft--by now I've wandered far enough from the outline that all preparation is futile! Let's just hope I can still sail into the ending I have in mind.

This is why I don't write scenes out of order. If I did, half of them would go to waste because by the time I got to them they wouldn't belong anymore. Actually, I did write a couple of scenes out of order for A Coastal Corpse--and both ended up deleted.

It's time to throw another obstacle in Seffi's path--I know that. But what the obstacle should be, I'm less certain.

What do you do when your mind slumps in the middle of a book? I'm interested in what you do with the story or to get your brain working again? As for me, I'm going to have lunch and go for a walk, because the sun is shining.

©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2023    
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