Recently I was working with a coaching client who had got to 37,000 words in her manuscript and realised it wasn’t working. She wanted me to read the manuscript and advise her on a genre that would best fit her writing style, because she’d tried two or three different genres and none of them were right for her. When I asked her a few more questions, it transpired that each time she had got to 35–45,000 words, hit a wall, and given up.
Here’s the thing: starting a novel is easy. You sit down and start writing. Your characters are new, so they can do whatever you want, and there’s no plot yet, so anything can happen. The further into the book you get, the harder things get: your characters are more established, so perhaps the thing you want them to do isn’t what they want to; or it’s starting to become clear that they’re still in need of development; or you’ve written yourself into a corner and now you have fourteen plot strands to tie up and none of them are playing ball.
Right in the middle is the hardest part. Here is where you should be reaching a turning point: your story is set up and you are tasked with developing it, expanding it, starting to think about bringing everything back together at the end. And when I say right in the middle, unfortunately I don’t mean a 5k stretch in the middle; I mean more like 20–30k words, from around 35k until 55 or 65k, when you hit the home stretch. This sticky middle bit is where many people give up.
But you mustn’t! If you have 35–45k words down you are over halfway there, since first drafts tend to come in short. The middle part can be like wading through a bog, but you must persevere.
As it turned out, the author I mentioned above wasn’t writing the wrong genre, and when she buckled down and kept writing she finished the first 60k-word draft in about another month. She spent another month editing and got it to 70k. She’s working on another round of revisions with edit notes I sent her, and then she’s going to start thinking about querying.
Imagine if she’d given up!
Even if this had turned out to be the wrong genre for her, whatever the ‘wrong genre’ means, there would have been huge value in finishing that first draft. One: until she did so, she had never finished a draft, and so she did not think of herself as the kind of person who could finish a novel. Two: finishing a novel is a very different skill to starting a novel, and now she has practised both. Even if this novel doesn’t end up going anywhere else apart from her own computer, she is completely different – and much more skilled – writer for finishing it.
So if you are entrenched in the sticky middle part right now, take heart! It’s not getting harder because you’re not getting better at writing, it’s getting harder because you are working on a new skill now.
With the usual caveat that any advice that does not help you get words on the page can be safely disregarded, here are my top tips for ploughing through the sticky middle of writing a novel, and getting your first draft finished.
Remind yourself what the story is about
Take a step back and check you are still writing the novel you think you’re writing. Is the main character still working towards the same goal they were on page one? Are we following the same main plot thread as at the beginning – or somewhere along the line have we drifted off to explore something else? This is the time to gently corral things back into place, and ensure we’re telling one focused story.
Up the stakes
Here is also a good place to up the stakes! Whatever the goal is that your protagonist is working towards, let’s make it more imperative that we get it, or harder to get, or whatever other way we can ratchet up the tension and give the plot a boost of momentum.
Use the midpoint to shift the goalposts
The midpoint is traditionally where we have a pivotal moment: our protagonist gets what they want but realises it doesn’t solve their problem; a second goal is added; we learn that a major character isn’t who we thought they were. Adding new goals, twists, and extra tension here can really help keep pacing high – and stop the middle of your novel dragging.
Keep chipping away
If you sailed through the opening of your novel, getting huge chunks down at a time, then it can feel disheartening to find yourself agonising over every sentence now. But keep going. Chip away, sentence by sentence, and reassure yourself that at some point the flow will return – for now, even adding a few words at a time moves you forward step by step.
Focus on getting words down, not perfection
When writing is particularly painful, focus on getting words down, not creating something perfect. First drafts are messy, and if you try too hard to create something brilliant first time around, you’ll never get to the end of a draft you can then hone in revisions.
Allow yourself to skip about
Stuck on a particular scene? No worries, hop to another one! Don’t feel you have to write the whole story chronologically: if you hit a sticky patch but know what will happen later on, just skip to that scene and write that one instead. You can fill in the gaps later on.
Plough forwards; don’t look back
Do not be tempted to go back and edit! Even if you find that what you’re writing necessitates big changes in the early part of the novel, just make a note and keep moving forward. If you keep going backwards, you’ll never reach the end.
Join me in the comments and tell me where you are in your writing journey! Have you made it past the middle, or are you still working steadily towards it? Share your progress, ask questions – and of course paid subscribers (thank you as always!) you can join me in the chat.
Ways to work with me
If you’re currently looking for an agent, you can find The Ampersand Agency submissions guidelines here, and my manuscript wishlist on my website.
You can also find me on Instagram where I share shorter writing and editing tips twice a week, or if you’re looking for an editor you can contact me via my website or on Reedsy.
Thank you so much for reading, commenting, liking and sharing and especially to those of you who are paid subscribers and support this Substack. As always, please do let me know in the comments if there’s anything in particular you’d like me to write about – paid subscribers do head to the chat to talk about your current projects, ask questions, and get advice!
Happy writing!
Abi
Thanks for this. I've started using the "Allow yourself to skip about" in writing my novel. I've been stuck in a chapter for a while now, to be honest.
Thanks!