Writers - how do you cope with Middle of the Novel Blues?

My Dear Friend,

Here’s a little true tale I want to share with you. Though I’ve written many scripts, stories and plays only once did I ever attempt to write a novel. Years back I started a novel, a mystery. With mysteries you’re supposed to plan out the plot in great detail before you start writing the damn thing. This is supposed to be done so that there won’t be any plot or plot twist continuity issues come up. So, like a good little writer, I actually outlined the whole novel in advance so there would be no creative surprises or imaginative side-trips to trip me up as I went along. But what began to happen, before I reached 20,000 words, was that I was becoming bored with the story, with the characters and plotting, because I already knew everything that was unfolding before I even put it to paper (and, yes, I was using a real typewriter back then). I guess what I’m saying is the process took too much out of the joy of writing. And I, honest-to-god, don’t know how most mystery writers can write what they write and still maintain the joy of originality and spontaneous inspirations.

Since that experience, I’ve always approached my writing with a general idea of where I want the story to go, a pretty good idea of the quirks and strengths and weaknesses of the principle characters, and simply start writing, letting the events unfold as they go along and letting the characters take whatever route seems subconsciously natural. And, yes, you can do this and still maintain the standard 'introduction, conflict and conclusion' formula.

I suppose what I’m suggesting is that you might think about, just for mental fun and games, a variety of different scenarios to put your characters through, perhaps several different plot twists. Even if you actually don’t use them, such a writing exercise, at least to me, seems to keep the creative process fresh.

When I start a new project with this concept in mind I actually look forward to writing because I keep asking myself ‘Now what are these guys going to do?’ or perhaps 'And what would happen if this character suddenly did something else, something unexpected?' So, by allowing the possibility of the story to surprise you might entice you to plow back into it to finish.*

I hope this helps. But then again, you may actually do this anyway, and if this is the case then my long-winded reply probably won't help.

(I read a John Grisham novel last week called 'The Partner' that was pretty entertaining. But the surprise, weirdly ironic ending simply caught me unprepared and blew me away. I've been intending to write and ask Grisham if he actually planned out the ending before he started writing the novel or if it came to him as he went along or was finishing it?)

Think out of the box. Novels like much of music have a beginning, middle section and an ending. Write the easier parts first. You have your beginning already, so write your ending next. Once you have the beginning and ending sections, then write about how you got from the beginning section to the ending section. By composing in this manner the ending then becomes your sought after middle section and the middle section becomes your new ending section. It just kinda falls all together.

i'm having the SAME issue at the moment. i get halfway through and i'm stumped. the best way to deal with it is

1.) sit down and retrace your steps. to get to where you're going, you have to know where you've been.

2.) write down all the major events you've created so far then decide what your climax is. your climax has to fit smoothly into your piece or it probably wont make sense.

3.) once you do this, determine what else MUST happen in order to reach said climax for the story to be complete and make sense. this will help you figure out where your story is currently at vs. where it needs to be.

4.) weigh the possible outcomes. if you dont know your options, you have NO answers. you cant make a decision if theres nothing to decide on!

5.) eliminate the ones that will throw your story off balance, organize the usable choices, and piece them into your puzzle.

from there, take your ideas to the notebook you've been scribbling in or the computer keyboard you've been breaking the keys on and get into your story again! lead your character to the climax and take it away!

Hope i helped (:

I am going through the same thing I haven't been able to write for months and when ever I do I just think it is crap(rubbish) and has nothing to do with the story the best I can tell you is look for inspiration in all places.