Obviously (I think?) a 1-2-3 structure might look different in a novel than a short story. There are tricks a writer can do to play with time... events seeming to be concurrent but in fact separated out, for example. I think part of the Muddy Middle is also reflective of the process. The writer tends to be invested in that beginning, but then (especially, if you are like me and haven't thought it all the way through), you might get lost in the weeds of the story. I'm sad to say I've abandoned more than one WIP part way through because I, as the writer, wasn't invested anymore, so how could I expect my readers to be?
There's a certain advantage to world building "off the main page" so that you can then work those details in slowly but surely, seasoning and seeding throughout the story to avoid unseemly clumps of infographics. I am slowly working at being less of a pantser as I progress through my own writing journey. We'll see how that goes.
Yes, in my mind this applies more to books. Short stories with a neat 3-act structure feel constrained to me. I have dropped a WIP at 60K, I will probably pick it up again, I wasn't sure where I was going with it. I'm turning into more of a semi-plotter, with a very rough outline, to avoid that trap. As you say, we'll see.
I'm approaching the ending of my WIP (Southerland #6), and it's going to be tricky. I have a vague idea of what needs to happen, but, as always, I'm keeping an open mind (I've been known to change my mind about who killed whom in the middle of writing the dénouement).
I agree that the middle act is the trickiest. When I find myself sinking into a morass of "plot development" (yawn), I often find it necessary to kick a hornet's nest and send the characters flying off in all directions, just to keep the reader (me) awake and involved. I never want my main character walking a straight line from point A to point B. Sometimes this results in unnecessary subplots that I have to go in later and excise, but on the whole I think it's better (and more fun) to write too much and have to eliminate scenes than to write too little and risk sleepwalking through a pedantic middle act.
Obviously (I think?) a 1-2-3 structure might look different in a novel than a short story. There are tricks a writer can do to play with time... events seeming to be concurrent but in fact separated out, for example. I think part of the Muddy Middle is also reflective of the process. The writer tends to be invested in that beginning, but then (especially, if you are like me and haven't thought it all the way through), you might get lost in the weeds of the story. I'm sad to say I've abandoned more than one WIP part way through because I, as the writer, wasn't invested anymore, so how could I expect my readers to be?
There's a certain advantage to world building "off the main page" so that you can then work those details in slowly but surely, seasoning and seeding throughout the story to avoid unseemly clumps of infographics. I am slowly working at being less of a pantser as I progress through my own writing journey. We'll see how that goes.
Yes, in my mind this applies more to books. Short stories with a neat 3-act structure feel constrained to me. I have dropped a WIP at 60K, I will probably pick it up again, I wasn't sure where I was going with it. I'm turning into more of a semi-plotter, with a very rough outline, to avoid that trap. As you say, we'll see.
Love the cover of Black Cat Weekly! Congrats on published pieces, Martine! Must take closer looks...
I've had a totally crazy April... bracing for a few months of story publishing drought, lol!
I'm approaching the ending of my WIP (Southerland #6), and it's going to be tricky. I have a vague idea of what needs to happen, but, as always, I'm keeping an open mind (I've been known to change my mind about who killed whom in the middle of writing the dénouement).
I agree that the middle act is the trickiest. When I find myself sinking into a morass of "plot development" (yawn), I often find it necessary to kick a hornet's nest and send the characters flying off in all directions, just to keep the reader (me) awake and involved. I never want my main character walking a straight line from point A to point B. Sometimes this results in unnecessary subplots that I have to go in later and excise, but on the whole I think it's better (and more fun) to write too much and have to eliminate scenes than to write too little and risk sleepwalking through a pedantic middle act.
Yep, cutting! And realizing when you get off track so much that you get lost in the woods... I have that problem in the draft I'm revising right now.