Guest Post by Beth Cornelison, author of “Healing Luke”

Thank you Tracee, for inviting me to your blog today!

This coming Saturday, I’ll be speaking to a group of writers about the Dreaded Sagging Middle (and, no, I don’t mean my middle-aged, post-childbirth tummy!). Since I was already devoting time to this topic for my talk, I thought I’d share a few thoughts here with you as well. Okay?

So what is a sagging middle, if not a reference to growing waistlines? By sagging middle I mean the place in a story where the drama of the inciting incident has been resolved, but the build up to the final emotional black moment and climax of action have not yet begun. If writers are not careful, this middle section of a book can seem flat and lose the reader’s attention. While there may be stuff happening with the characters, the pace of the book seems sluggish and the characters seem to drift aimlessly through the plodding plot. A reader may find themselves skimming scenes to ‘get to the good parts’ later in the book. But isn’t the whole book supposed to be the good part? Shouldn’t the plot and characterization, the conflict and dialogue keep the reader so involved in the story that they hang on every word?

Ideally, yes. The challenge a writer faces with each book is to create a tightly plotted story in which every scene has conflict and every scene is critical to the characters’ growth and quest for their story goals. Okay, maybe now I’m getting a little too technical. Readers don’t necessarily want to see HOW the book was put together. They just want to read a great story once the writer is finished doing their job. Kinda like I don’t want to know how hot dogs are made. I just know they taste good with mustard on a summer afternoon.

But readers do know when something about the story isn’t working. When it is too easy to set the book aside and do the laundry, the writer hasn’t done her job. In writers’ circles, I’ve heard it said, “To avoid a sagging middle, drop a dead body in the room.” Maybe not literally, especially if your book is not a suspense or mystery. But symbolically, put something in the plot that shakes things up and takes the story in a new, unexpected direction.

I don’t want to give any plot spoilers about Healing Luke my new Sourcebooks release, but I will tell you I threw a symbolic dead body in the story about halfway through for just this purpose. I needed something to give my characters, especially Luke, a swift kick in the pants and change the direction of the story. Not only does this dramatic plot point shake up the action, the following scenes show an emotional shift in the story as well. The reader sees how the characters were affected by the dramatic event and deeper levels of their emotional conflict are revealed. ,

The symbolic dead body should always fit the story. Just as a literal dead body has no place in many books, a writer should avoid throwing in contrived events for shock value. While readers don’t want the middle to bog down, neither will they sit still for unrealistic events or pointless melodrama for drama’s sake. The conflict should be meaningful to the development of the plot and a natural extension of the character’s journey and personal growth. The trick for authors is to be both meaningful and surprising. Relevant and original.

Okay, I don’t want the comments to turn into a negative book/author bashing— I’m a proponent of keeping things positive when at all possible!— so, instead, tell us about a book that had a unique twist in the middle that surprised you and kept you up all night to see what was going to happen next.

Wish me luck in my speech next weekend and may none of your middles sag!

Happy reading, Beth Cornelison