I recently worked with a writer who, when she hit the Middle, lost the passion for her story.
When the allure of the Beginning is over, the story starts getting messy. Characters act out. Everything she writes seems boring to her. All her fears about the unworthiness of her project interfere with her ability to create new scenes. She wants me to give her the scenes or at least give her ideas for the scenes.
My advice for this writer is to list the themes she’s interested in exploring in her piece. I am NOT referring to the Thematic Significance Statement here. She isn’t ready for that yet — she hasn’t even finished the first draft of her project and thus has no idea what her piece will end up meaning in the long run. But for now, she is aware of many of the themes that thread through her story thus far:
Life in this country as an immigrant
Her love and respect for older people and her ease in relating to older people rather than people her own age
Loss of older friends
Hurt that comes with loss
Women empowerment
Live life with a sense of humor
The guts and resourcefulness and resilience of a strong woman
This is just a sampling of the themes that have popped up in her story. By listing them, she hones the focus of the scenes she writes now for this added dimension = meaning. By exploring what she wants to convey, the scenes are no longer quite so episodic or boring to her.
The coherence that came with the sequential order of her story can now be deepened into coherence through theme.
What are the themes that most inform your writing?
Community. Friendship. Control. Fear. You’d never guess, would you?! 🙂
I heard Dennis Lehane on NPR this afternoon, and he said that there is nothing he despises more than the middle. He says–and I think he was quoting another writer–that the middle reveals all the mistakes you made in the beginning. I realize that’s not a helpful statement other than to say your friend is in good company. 🙂
Will Power over Desire
Letting go of the Old STuff
Belief over fear
Thanks Jana. That puts us all in good company together!
Just emailed a friend who is going through a major upheaval in her life. Makes me wonder how quickly the themes we write about shift in response to the shift in our everyday life??? Immediate? Or, do themes take time to develop deep in our psyches first before coming out on the page??
Something I’m pondering right now………
What do you think???
Hey there…sorry to not be in touch for such a long time, but I love the website! And I love your suggestions for the middle of the book. So far I haven’t had trouble getting through the middle, but I know exactly what you mean by feeling as though the story lost its magic, etc. It’s nice to know others experience the same thing.
Great post, Martha.
My themes are starting over, letting go, letting yourself move forward, love, hope, true love prevails.
I always go by the theme of what is the worst thing that can happen when it comes to writing a story and that keeps the fingers tingling and holds the tension until after the black moment when life has to straighten out for a HEA. Of course the reader needs a break from the tension before that and those are quiet scenes.
Hugs, JJ
Thought provoking post, partic-
ularly since I'm starting on the middle right now. I'm not sure I've written enough to identify too many themes in this book.
For my first, I thought my main theme was "facing your fears," but after listing the themes in that story, I realized that it really was "dealing with guilt" and the fear of doing doing harm. Guilt also is an important motivator for two other characters. I hadn't noticed that connection before.
Others themes are:
Healing – self & others
Love
Love & respect for animals
Helping others
Friendship
Facing fears
Taking risks
Martha's second comment wondering about how quickly the themes we write about shift in response to the shift in our everyday life is also appropo. I wrote my first over several years and my life changed dramatically during that time. My heroine also changed significantly, reflecting those changes.
Now I have to come up with more themes for my current story.
Thought provoking post, partic-
ularly since I'm starting on the middle right now. I'm not sure I've written enough to identify too many themes in this book.
For my first, I thought my main theme was "facing your fears," but after listing the themes in that story, I realized that it really was "dealing with guilt" and the fear of doing doing harm. Guilt also is an important motivator for two other characters. I hadn't noticed that connection before.
Others themes are:
Healing – self & others
Love
Love & respect for animals
Helping others
Friendship
Facing fears
Taking risks
Martha's second comment wondering about how quickly the themes we write about shift in response to the shift in our everyday life is also appropo. I wrote my first over several years and my life changed dramatically during that time. My heroine also changed significantly, reflecting those changes.
Now I have to come up with more themes for my current story.
Oops! Don’t know why it posted twice. Sorry about that.
My themes in my life right now are pouring out of me into my novel – things like starting over, figuring our what healthy love looks like, the importance of friends, dealing with things that maybe as a couple you’d put on hold. In my real life I am a mid-life wife who may find herself single. S-C-A-R-Y. Oh gosh..I’m making my character Sosie Bend a bit younger than me (late 30’s) and I’m having her be dumped by Dan her fiance of five years so he can have a baby with a Mormon.make-up artist. Sosie moves across the country (which I once did) and is houseitting for friends on the beach in Malibu (where I once lived). But the rest of her adventure is pure fiction and so far, so much fun to write. I’ve written the first five chapters and the last chapter, so the middle of the novel is still lurking. Hopefully, thanks to all the Blockbuster Plot tips I’ve got in my fragment file I’ll get through it! Mary Kennedy Eastham, Author, ‘The Shadow of a Dog I Can’t Forget’ and the novel-in-progress, ‘Night Surfing – The Story of Love and Wonder in the Waves of Malibu’
I love you, Mary. For your honesty and your warm heart and most of all for your gift of writing.
I relate to so many of these themes: letting go, taking risks, being brave…… great way to live a life…..
For more on use of theme, please visit the newly launched website for an interview I did with Deborah Davis, author of multiple books that have met with success.
http://www.blockbusterplots.com/resc/davis.html
poverty
fairness
abandonment
fear
ho9pe
About themes developing. I think those life happenings can jolt us way out of the themes we’ve been dealing with. On the other hand, I do think the themes that come out of the new events take a while to seep into our skin/mind and don’t make their way onto the page right away. Maybe this is one of the reasons its so hard to write through the ups and downs?
crying is not for real hemen
Every time I open and read your blog I feel I have learned something new. Keep it up.
It was extremely interesting for me to read that article. Thanks for it. I like such themes and everything that is connected to them. I would like to read a bit more soon.
Truly yours
Darek Wish