This week I find myself having reached what Walter Mosely calls ‘the midlands of the novel.’ My novel is short, a novella even, and although I’m not entirely sure yet of its final length, I sense I’m at the middle, that crucial stage where the story and in particular the tension have to be sustained. According to Mosely this is a potentially, ‘treacherous place,’ where the narrative can sometimes sag and fall away. It can wander, become bloated or unfocused and the tension may begin to seep away.
I do know my final destination but I’m not sure about what happens to my characters on the way there. I have a number of possibilities in mind but no clear direction and although I’m a great believer in writing on, I also know there are times when you have to stop, assess where you are and think about where you are going.
I was already sensing that my storyline was drifting somewhat and that maybe I was losing pace and tension when I decided now was that time to stop and to start thinking about ‘the midlands’ and the future.
So where did my thoughts lead me and what do I think will help in addressing the issues that we face when we reach the middle of our novel?
Here are the thoughts that occurred to me particularly from reading Walter Mosely and here’s what I decided to do:
1. The map of our novel/novella is already there in the very beginning of our story, it lies in the characters we have created and the conflict we have established. We lose sight of this at our peril.
So – I’m re-reading the manuscript with particular attention to the beginning and to each of the key characters, making notes under their names as I go, thinking about each of their stories and how they will develop and be resolved.
2. The middle of our novel/novella is like the whole – it needs a beginning, a middle and an end – just like every scene does. So it follows we need to give the beginning of the middle the same attention we give the beginning of the novel itself etc.
I’ve gone back to the very beginning of the middle. Here my protagonist Alice is finally forced to go and live with a man who doesn’t love her and who she knows to be cruel and abusive. I realised in going back that I’d missed a great opportunity to heighten tension by not detailing what happens – I’d alluded to things, skimmed over their crucial first days together, failed to be specific and made it far too passive. It would not have made a good beginning. I’ve addressed this and I think it makes a big difference.
3. The middle is the place where the strands we have established need to be explored and woven together into the whole cloth… So……
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