Is the problem that you're plotting this out and aren't sure what should be in the middle, or you're writing it and finding yourself in a muddle? Different answers to different problems.
In any case, 9 times out of 10 you can't ignore a writer who hasn't come across murky middles as either a bald faced liar or not actually a writer.
At the moment I am still in the plotting stage.
Options I know of here
- Write the story you've got until you run out of plot and see if being with the characters inspires you with what they should do next when you run out of plot.
- Find a plot template and follow it closely through the middle in the hope that the extra structure gives you the ideas you need
- Plot backwards. You know they're going to reach X. Okay, how do they reach X, what complications do they have to overcome. So to reach X they need to do Y, how they do that, what complications do they have to
overcome, etc.etc.
- Or break it down into these mini-chunks going from the front. I sometimes think of the middle of the story as a story in its own right, so I come up with the opening and ending of that - again, easier to do than middles - and that leaves me with less middle. But I can treat that middle as a series of really closely related short stories - again, intro ending easier to think of. And keep making it smaller and smaller.
- Find a book you like with a good middle and construct a template for getting through the middle based on what happens. Their character fights - your character fights. They find a vital clue - you find a vital clue. They stop to chew the cud with an ally - etc.etc.
- Treat the plot like a game between the protagonists and antagonists. Each action provokes a counter-reaction and you can get your plot like that.
- Throw in a big problem the MC has to confront where you run out of plot, then run from there with her trying stuff to beat it, then fixing the complications from that and so on.
That's the stuff I can think of. I've used a mix of the first 4 and the last one. I would add that Cupiscent is very wise to put it all down on paper in front of her and if I had any sense I'd do the same thing.
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