{"id":229,"date":"2015-03-08T19:43:17","date_gmt":"2015-03-08T19:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stevenmoores.net\/?page_id=229"},"modified":"2017-12-16T02:16:35","modified_gmt":"2017-12-16T02:16:35","slug":"on-writing","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/stevenmoores.net\/?page_id=229","title":{"rendered":"On Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most common mistake a fiction author can make \"\"<\/a>
\n\u2013 and how to keep your story moving in the dreaded middle<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

1. \u00a0Your Story is Character Driven<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Trust me, whether you think your novel is plot driven or character driven, it\u2019s really character driven \u2013 at least if you want your story to appeal to most readers. A good story is somebody\u2019s<\/span><\/i> story. \u00a0<\/span>It\u2019s tough to have a story without a character. Characters do things, but before they do things, characters make decisions. A character could simply be trying to get to work in the morning, or striving for a seemingly unobtainable goal, or trying to stay alive. It\u2019s those actions, the result of decisions, which lead to story conflict. This is because you, the author, make sure that almost every decision your character makes has dire consequences for that character and others. When your character\u2019s decisions create trouble for others, suddenly you have conflict, and conflict is what makes your story interesting. \u00a0<\/span>Conflict is what makes a story a story, and not a mere recitation of events.<\/span><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 The most common mistake an author can make is failing to motivate characters<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Mark Flanagan<\/span><\/a>, self-styled Expert in Contemporary Literature, says, \u201cConflict is the struggle between the opposing forces on which the action in a work of literature depends.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>He\u2019s right, of course, but I would add that those \u201copposing forces\u201d are characters, or the result of decisions by characters. So, what is it about conflict that makes it so critical for a story?\u00a0 <\/span>And how can you use conflict to keep your story from sagging in the middle?<\/span><\/p>\n

My friend and multi-published author <\/span>Sharon Mignerey<\/span><\/a> puts it this way, more or less.\u00a0 <\/span>A successful novel must have:<\/span><\/p>\n

(1)\u00a0 <\/span>A character with a goal,
\n<\/span>(2)\u00a0 <\/span>who faces seemingly insurmountable obstacles,
\n<\/span>(3)\u00a0 <\/span>and who must accomplish that goal or face disaster. <\/span><\/p>\n

A character\u2019s decisions should arise organically from the nature of who they are. A hardened Marine colonel will make decisions differently than the mother of the soldier that colonel must send into battle. It is the character\u2019s decisions or failure to make decisions that create the particular conflict that defines your story, the character\u2019s story. The character\u2019s efforts to accomplish their goal in the face of obstacles is what drives the plot forward. <\/span><\/p>\n

Bottom line, the plot doesn\u2019t drive itself. The characters do. <\/span><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 How to Fix that Muddling Middle of Your Story<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If your story is sagging in the middle, it could mean your main character\u2019s motivation, or perhaps the motivation of an antagonist, isn\u2019t significant enough to keep the story moving. Remember, if your main character doesn\u2019t achieve her goal, it\u2019s a catastrophe. \u00a0<\/span>What keeps a character from achieving a goal? Obstacles. What do the obstacles cause? Conflict. Some thing or somebody is standing in your character\u2019s way. Your antagonist\u2019s goal is to make sure your protagonist fails, and fails spectacularly. <\/span><\/p>\n

In my first mystery, <\/span>Dead on Cuban Time<\/span><\/a>, policeman Enrique Cienfuegos must find his brother-in-law\u2019s killer, even though his department prohibits investigations by a family member, and even though his supervisors think it\u2019s a matter that should be left to the secret police. It\u2019s this decision that gets Enrique in trouble with his supervisors, with the secret police, with his own father, and with the killers, all of which drives the story forward. Enrique\u2019s decisions also lead him to discover clues to the mystery, which drives the plot forward, even as Enrique gets into more and more trouble. The story is not simply finding out who-dunnit, it\u2019s wondering how Enrique is going to survive the danger he encounters and deal with the characters he comes in conflict with. All the while he\u2019s making choices as he persists in the face of repeated setbacks. In this case, Enrique\u2019s goals and decisions are more personal, more true to Enrique\u2019s character, and, I think, more interesting than simply those of an objective detective doing his job by following clues. <\/span><\/p>\n

So back to the muddling middle.\u00a0 <\/span>Whenever a story I\u2019m writing appears to be falling apart and going nowhere in the middle of the book, I know the problem lies in the decisions my characters are making, or not making. Every decision my hero makes must get him deeper and deeper into conflict. If it doesn\u2019t, the conflict loses steam and the story suffers. <\/span><\/p>\n

Without characters and the conflicts their decisions create, your story would simply be a series of pointless events. If your story is series of pointless events, you\u2019ll know it by the middle of the book, because the plot will be going nowhere, or it\u2019ll be going in a direction that has nothing to do with your story.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It helps if your main character is somebody we want to root for, and your antagonist is someone we should love to hate. Interesting characters make interesting decisions, but that\u2019s another story. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The most common mistake a fiction author can make \u2013 and how to keep your story moving in the dreaded middle 1. \u00a0Your Story is Character Driven Trust me, whether you think your novel is plot driven or character driven, it\u2019s really character driven \u2013 at least if you want… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-229","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevenmoores.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevenmoores.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevenmoores.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevenmoores.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevenmoores.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=229"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/stevenmoores.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":334,"href":"https:\/\/stevenmoores.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/229\/revisions\/334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevenmoores.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}