The part of your novel where everyone gets stuck

When I was doing my masters at Cambridge, I lived in a tiny attic room in a graduate house, just across from where Stephen Hawking was living at the time. Small eaves, a small window, and a floor that disappeared under papers and books. I had piles of notes, highlighted pages, and it looked like nobody could ever make sense of it. It was my room of one's own, and it was where I first learned to gather threads and see how they fit together.

It was one of my favourite parts of studying, and also one of the most frustrating. For a long time, nothing seemed to connect. I’d look at the mess and despair. Then, almost always, a plan would emerge. A way forward. Clarity, out of what had looked like chaos.

I think about that room often when I'm working with a writer who feels stuck in the middle of their novel.

If you're somewhere in the middle right now, and it feels harder than it did at the start, I want you to know that's not a sign anything has gone wrong.

The middle is where most writers feel lost and the self-doubt creeps in. It's rarely about running out of events to write. Almost always, the real problem is that their character hasn't changed enough yet on the inside. The plot keeps arriving, but nothing underneath it has moved, so the story starts to feel like it's going nowhere, even though things are technically happening.

I think of scenes like dominoes knocking into dominoes. One internal decision in a character needs to knock into the next scene, and the next, for the middle to hold. When that internal decision hasn't been made yet, the dominoes have nothing to fall into. That's the stuck feeling and not a broken story. Just a missing change.

I was reminded of this again last week, away in Keswick. I went into the week feeling stuck on something myself, and the week didn't unfold anything like I'd planned. I ended up with three teenagers and two dogs! But I came out of the week clearer than I went in, even though I couldn't have told you exactly when that happened. Some progress only shows itself afterwards.

If this sounds like where you are, my free Character Arc Worksheet is a good place to start finding that change. It's six questions, and once you've filled it in, there's an option to book a free 30 minute call so we can talk through your answers together.

You can find the worksheet HERE

With warm wishes,

Hannah