Getting through the murky middle of your story

What to do when your second act gets bloated.

Photo by Héctor J. Rivas on Unsplash

Many first drafts suffer from what I call a “saggy middle” — or soggy, murky, bloated, take your pick. This can happen when you don’t have a tight enough focus on the main character’s story goal and on the cause and effect trajectory that moves them through the story.

If you’re already 50,000 words into your middle grade contemporary and you haven’t hit the Midpoint Moment yet (more on that in a moment) … you may have a soggy middle. But don’t despair! This is a very normal and very fixable issue.

Let’s troubleshoot together.

Okay, so what IS the Midpoint Moment?

Three Act Structure Diagram from Grammarly

The midpoint of your story should land at about – no surprise! – 50% of the way through your manuscript. At that point, your main character needs to ask themselves two questions: “Who am I?” and “Can I overcome the odds stacked against me?” The rest of your story answers those two questions.

This is true whether you’re writing a novel or a memoir. The midpoint is that moment when the main character is going to look in the mirror (metaphorically speaking or literally) and ask those two critical questions. Everything that comes after exists to answer them. No pressure or anything.

When dealing with a bogged-down middle, explicitly identifying your midpoint is going to help you decide what needs to come next to get your character to the story’s climax.

Why your middle got so damn long

I often refer to the middle of a book (Act 2) as “Fun & Games” – the part of your story where your character actively pursues their goal and does the thing your book is actually about.

Because it’s “Fun & Games,” Act 2 sometimes runs long and rambly, leading to the dreaded soggy middle. And listen, I get it. Exploring your main character’s world is fun and it feels important to include every detail. But remember that you need to be charging for that midpoint moment, not meandering toward it.

For example, I see this all the time with manuscripts where there’s a lot of travel happening or multiple characters being introduced. There’s that stranger-in-a-strange-land, getting-to-know-you piece that naturally takes up space.

But even in the Fun & Games portion of your book, you want to keep an eye on cause and effect: Does the decision or outcome from the last scene directly affect the scene that follows? If not, you can always cut some of the exploration from the page and save it for yourself as background knowledge.

Pause right here! Do you understand scene?

I often tell writers in the Story Matters Mentorship that scene is the atom in story’s periodic table. Yet many writers struggle to identify what scenes are or how they fit into a story well-told. A strong scene sets up the cause-and-effect trajectory that drives the pace and emotional tension of the larger story.

I’ll bet 80% of soggy middles can be attributed to the author not having a solid grasp on the definition and function of scene in storytelling. If you think that might be you, pause right now and get the free preview of my Understanding Scene course. Seriously, I’ll wait; this is important.

Find your false victory

The midpoint often features a false victory. This is the moment where things seem to be working out for your main character. They think they’ve found what they’re looking for. Finally! They can relax now, right?

Wrong. (You knew that was coming.)

The second half of the book needs to be focused on your character realizing that they had a false victory and that they’re not going to be able to stay where they are. They’ve gotta move on one more time at least.

That’s what makes the second half feel like second-half-material instead of first-half-fun-and-games. There is a change: a shift in tone, in stakes, in pace. The setbacks in the second half need to be tougher. The losses need to land harder. This is where your character earns their transformation.

So, where’s your false victory? If you can’t pinpoint it, identifying or adding one can help you decide when to shift the focus of your story and move into your third act.

Scene vs. Summary

A surefire way to reduce your word count and hone the focus of your story? Think about the balance between what happens on the page versus what can be summarized.

My rule of thumb: If there’s a point where your character encounters tension and stakes, that needs to be a scene.

Passage of time is a good place for summary. Movement from one location to another can be a good place for summary. But those key stake-filled, tension-filled pieces all need to be scenes that reinforce the themes that you’re grappling with.

Tl;dr?

Maybe you’re realizing your middle is soggier than day-old cereal. Never fear! This is a very normal and very fixable issue.

• First and foremost: You need to be 100% sure you understand scene.

• If you’re not quite sure what that midpoint moment’s going to look like for your main character, start brainstorming now. What will make them ask, “Who am I?” and “Can I overcome the odds stacked against me?”

• Ask yourself: What false victory might they experience? How will the second half of your story differ in focus and tone from the first half?

• And as you write toward that Midpoint Moment, keep your cause-and-effect trajectory tight. Each scene should build on the last, pushing your character closer to that moment of reckoning.

Like your main character at the midpoint, now is the time to dig deep and KEEP GOING!

Make your notes. Dial in your focus. And remember: you can trim and tighten more in revision. That’s literally what revision is for.

For now...write on!

I’ll be cheering you on from the sidelines even as I dig deep myself.