Why The Middle Of Your Story Is The Weakest

Why the middle of your story is the weakest.

how can this be fixed? what you can do as a writer to keep the reader interested

Has someone stopped reading your novel saying, “It lost me halfway in.” “Your story wandered and I was confused. The middle of your story was the weakest.”

An important tip to keep in mind when starting a new novel. Have an idea of how it’s going to end. This will go a long way to helping. Ask any great novel writer and they’ll tell you It’s the middle of the story that wanders, sometimes into a bad place. You lose your audience not at the beginning of the novel, but the middle. Most critics will judge a book by its middle. And that’s where writers are at their weakest.

In this blog, we will be looking at why the middle of your story is the weakest…

WHY THE MIDDLE OF YOUR STORY IS THE WEAKEST

Table of Contents

When someone says they have a “great idea” for a novel what they mean is they have the beginning. But do they have an ending? If they do that’s wonderful, they can then bridge the gap between the two. But how many times have you read a book where it starts off well, you like what you’re reading then all of a sudden by the halfway point the novel starts to wander into an unknown area then ends horribly.

A friend later asks, “How was the novel you were reading?” You say, “It was great at the start but the ending was bad.” What that means is the writer had a great idea but didn’t know how to end it, while writing they wandered off in the middle and had to come up with an ending to their strange new story.

THEY HAVE AN IDEA AND NOT AN ENDING

This happens in Hollywood movie studios a lot. A movie producer walks into the boss’s office with a “great idea.” They have a lot of enthusiasm telling the studio owner all about it. The owner likes it and gives the movie the go-ahead. But what the studio owner didn’t hear was the ending. Because the guy who had the “wonderful idea” didn’t have an ending, just a beginning. So the script gets written and the middle wanders, leading to a disappointing ending.

It all comes down to the middle. “All’s well that ends well.” If you have a great beginning and bad ending no one will like your novel, if you have an average beginning but a great ending you’ll probably get better reviews. We remember the ending more than the beginning. (Of course, you want a great beginning as well, don’t ignore that). But the middle will determine if the ending is good. Great middles lead to a great ending. A middle that wanders will lead to an odd ending.

NOT SURE WHAT YOUR STORY IS ABOUT

A story should be like an arrow going forward. Not wandering halfway through like an empty plastic bag in the wind. (This is a sign you never knew what your story was about.) However, when you come up with the beginning idea make sure you have a rough idea of the ending to keep the story on course. something to aim for. Letting you bridge to two together. You then don’t have to worry about the story wandering off.

Imagine building a bridge on one side and not knowing where you want the bridge to end up. Believing you’ll figure it out when you get there. This is not a good construction idea. But if you start building the bridge on both sides working towards the middle you’ll end up meeting in the middle at the right spot.

YOU’LL BE LOST IN THE MIDDLE

Imagine getting into a taxi and saying to the driver “drive”. He’ll say “where?” If you don’t have an answer you’ll drift all over the city. You can’t then say, “We’re lost.” because you didn’t know where you were going to start with. If you don’t know the ending to your story you will not know if you’re lost in the middle.

Knowing the ending doesn’t mean you need every word written down perfectly. But it means having an idea of where you want it to go. You have a rough idea of the turnout, which gives you something to aim for.

HE HAD THE WHOLE THING PLANNED OUT

Look at the novel “The Godfather” it’s a long complex novel, great to read from start to finish. To see Michael start off at the wedding wearing the military uniform and end up in the black suit in the mafia. It was clear Mario Puzo knew what he was doing. He wasn’t guessing as he was writing. He had the ending in mind. Therefore each scene is necessary for character development and moving the story forward towards an ending he had planned out.

You can tell he knew the ending he wanted and like an arrow moved towards it. If he had no idea how it was going to end the long novel would’ve drifted from page to page boring the reader. But since he had an idea he knew where to move. Did he know the exact ending word for word? It wasn’t necessary. The fact he knew the overall ending is what made the writing possible.

EVERY SCENE REVEALS CHARACTER

Even when reading “The Lord of the Rings” The series is broken up into three novels roughly 400 pages each. We can tell J.R.R. Tolkien had a sense he knew where the story was going when he started writing. At no point in any of the three books do you feel the story drifting, not making sense. Leaving the reader wondering, “Why is this happening?”

Everything in the story makes sense, everything that happens needs to happen. Each scene leads to something better. Every scene reveals character helping the characters reach the end. It’s hard to imagine Tolkien not having a clue on what was going to happen as he wrote each book. The books are too well written for him to be making it up without any idea of how it was going to end. He may not have had the ending written out in detail but he did have some type of idea. Which helped him steer towards it.

YOU NEED TO GO BACK AND CHANGE THE BEGINNING

You do not have to have your ending perfect the first time you sit down to write but by having an idea of your story gives you a chance to steer towards it. By drifting through the story in the middle you run the risk of wandering and convincing yourself it’s right, only to have someone else read it feeling confused by the direction of the story. You can change your ending if you need to, but if you do, go back and make sure the beginning matches up with the new ending and it flows well through the middle.

Remember it’s the characters who moves a story forward. An active protagonist will always make a great story. A passive protagonist who stands around will have the story “happen to them”. This leads to a boring story. This usually happens in the middle of a story in which the writer doesn’t understand their lead protagonist’s inner goal. Making for a weak middle. Chances are if your middle is weak it’s because your protagonist isn’t active. They’re just sitting around waiting for others to do something. They become an observer to events, not making them happen. Leading to a middle that drifts.

THEY NEED TO TAKE ACTION

When the lead protagonist finally takes action at the end to stop the antagonist it doesn’t make sense, because why would they suddenly take action now? They’ve done nothing from the start, now they get involved in stopping the bad guy? All stories are a journey. Your protagonist has to be seeking something. Something that is lacking in their life. By the end of the story, they have found what they are looking for.

They have found their “want.” As a writer when you are aware of your protagonist’s “want” it will help keep you on track. If your lead character isn’t looking for something then they will wander, just like your story. But if you are aware of their “want and need” you can stay on course in your novel like an arrow shooting forward. The reader will sense the “want” and will stay with the story to see if it’s achieved.

THEY ARE SENT OFF ON AN ADVENTURE

All stories have a rise in action. You start off with the protagonist living their regular life when suddenly, an inciting event changes everything. They are “set off on an adventure.” their life is different now. They will face challenges along the way. Leading up to a climax in which they have to face their antagonist. Once they have defeated their antagonist they can return to their old life but happier. However, they cannot simply travel along the path leading to the climax. They have to learn something new along the way that they then use against the antagonist, this leading to a victory.

As a writer, you have to understand what your character needs to learn so they acquire this new information to make their life better. A “weak middle” means the writer did not understand the protagonist. Leaving the lead character to more or less wander around not acquiring anything to be used against the antagonist later.

THE READER WILL SENSE SOMETHING IS OFF

When the hero defeats the antagonist the reader will sense the victory is empty. As though the victory came from luck. It lacks meaning. The reader may not know “how to write a novel” or understand the “three-act structure.” But they will sense something is off. They may not be able to describe it. But it doesn’t stop them from sensing it.

Most people when asked why they didn’t like a novel will not say, “I felt the middle lack depth because the protagonist’s inner motivation was not revealed leading to false victories along the way.” Your average person does not talk like this. But what they will say is “I don’t know, I was bored halfway through.”

HAVE AN ACTIVE PROTAGONIST

The best way to stop a story from stopping or drifting in the middle is to have an active protagonist pursuing a goal. They are moving in a straight line.

They are going after something giving the story movement. When your lead is passive without a goal to learn they will drift wherever the story takes them. Leading to a story with no direction and you will not be able to say “alls well that ends well.”