Review of Write Your Novel from the Middle

This is a revised repost from several years ago, the revision due to that fact that I’ve learned a lot more about writing in the past four years. So please enjoy again a review of Write Your Novel from the Middle.

At 84 pages, the book certainly wastes no space in explaining how to create the middle point of your novel and then writing backwards and forwards from it. Mr. Bell begins by explaining this approach will work for Pam Pantser, Paul Plotter, and Tammy Tweener. The key is the Mirror Moment, and it really is a moment, which come in the middle of the story. The main character (MC) reflects on what kind of person he or she is.

To make this moment meaningful, the writer must write a backstory for the character in the first half of the story and a transformation in the last half. Mr. Bell states that the moment is key because it’s what the novel is “really all about”.

He gives examples of mirror moments from books, like A Christmas Carol, and movies, like Lethal Weapon, Sunset Boulevard, and Moonstruck. The author also goes into details about story structure, like the three-act structure, and the components that make up that act. He also provides ways to ignite inspiration in your writing.

Although he states that this approach will work for any writer, I think it works best for plotters. When I wrote my first novel, A Shadow on the Snow, I put in a mirror moment naturally, before I read Mr. Bell’s book. After I read it, I went back to the moment and fleshed it out. I’m not sure it works as well. This may be because I really, really, really don’t like to write to a formula. So if I put something in that adheres to a formula and didn’t grow organically from my writing, it doesn’t feel natural. Or maybe it does work, but since I know the how and why of where this scene came from, I think like the formula draws attention to itself while readers wouldn’t notice anything. I find it very hard to judge my own stories objectively.

That’s why I think this technique works better for a plotter, someone who can write to a formula without their book appearing like it follows a formula. I also think the mirror moment works better for stand alone stories. It makes more sense for the main character to have this mirror moment once, one time when she is seriously questioning what kind of person she is, than for her to have that kind of deep questioning in every single book in a series.

For more tips on plots, click here.

What books do you recommend for writing plots?

June 13, 2024 0

Do You Like the Mirror Moment in Fiction?

Today’s prompt isn’t here to inspire a story but to inspire a conversation. Do you like the mirror moment in fiction? Since my theme is writing the middles of stories this month, I’m asking about the mirror moment because that’s where it occurs: in the middle. I learned about the plot point in James Scott Bell’s book Write Your Novel from the Middle, which I’ll review later this week.

The mirror moment is the point somewhere in the middle of the story where the main character reflects on what kind of person he or she is. The decision they make from that reflection fuels the rest of the plot. Once you know about it, you can pick it out of any movie or book that includes it. Of course, not every piece of fiction has a mirror moment. Not every story needs one. It depends on the story you’re telling.

So I’d like to hear from you. What’s your opinion of the mirror moment?

For writing prompts for the middle of stories, click here.

June 10, 2024 2

Why is the Middle of Our Stories A Muddle?

It’s something of a cliche when writers talk about the troubles they encounter in the middle of a story. But, like most cliches, there’s a kernel of truth to it. So why is the middle of our stories a muddle? As we kick off this month’s theme of dealing with the middle of our stories, I want to uncover reasons for the muddle, which can be different for each writer.

Too Much Freedom

You’ve written a stunning hook and your beginning has set up the main character, the major characters, and the main problem. Now what?

If you haven’t thought beyond the beginning, your story could be suffering from too much freedom. Since you have no direction at this point, you have too many ways you can develop the story.

There are several ways you can fix that.

Develop Your Ending

This may sound like putting the cart before the horse, but knowing how your story ends gives purpose to your middle. If you’re going on vacation, you have an ultimate destination and that limits the routes you can take. That doesn’t mean you can’t explore side routes or take the longer, scenic route, but since you know your final goal, you know how far off the direct route you can go.

Develop Your Characters

Perhaps you’re stuck because you haven’t developed or don’t understand your characters well enough. Go back and review your notes and what you’ve written in your beginning. When I can’t move on in a scene, I ask myself what is the logical next step for a particular character to take. Often that means more complicated writing for me, but the logic for the character makes the story better.

But may your muddle in the middle is the opposite problem.

Too Little Freedom

If you’re a plotter and have your book outlined, you may reach your notes on the middle and find it isn’t working. Many times, once I begin writing, I throw out my notes because what seemed so good in the outline turns out lousy in the writing. Give yourself permission to make a new outline, based off what you’ve actually written in the beginning. Make several outlines, testing different approaches.

Writers, why do you think the middle of stories is a muddle?

June 5, 2024 2

How to Use June in a Story

Spring is wrapping up and summer is about to launch. Here are some ideas and inspirations for how to use June in a story.

Father’s Day

This holiday can be a setting for exploring male relationships within a family. Like I wrote in May for Mother’s Day, you can write a story only set on Father’s Day over a number years to show how the male characters change.

In my latest YA cozy mystery, A Storm of Doubts, the story wraps up on Father’s Day. That seemed appropriate for a novel in which my main character Rae Riley doubts she’s calling the right man “Dad” and a friend of her family faces the possibility that he isn’t the father of his youngest child.

Summer Solstice

This year summer begins in the Northern Hemisphere on June 20. For a short history of observations and folklore about this date, click here for the article on History.com. I always like stories that take a well-known folklore and use it as a basis for a fantasy story. Such as certain people who are born on the summer solstice possess special powers, perhaps commanding the four elements, and these powers increase with the amount of daylight. The power itself is neutral, so during the summer solstice, the good and evil characters can have a day-long battle at the peak of their powers.

Juneteenth

Here’s a short description of why Juneteenth is celebrated. In Ohio, where I live, the holiday is celebrated with community festivals, so this could be setting for a story dealing with healing divisions within a community. Since the holiday celebrates freedom, a story about a character achieving some kind of personal freedom while observing the holiday would be a great parallel.

Summer activities

Fishing

My youngest is the Fishing Fanatic, and as a mom who went on his fishing adventures when he was younger because he needed help, I can tell you from personal experience that a fishing trip is loaded with opportunities for humor. From wiping out on a muddy bank and gouging a hand on the barb of a catfish to diving into murky water to snatch a rod that a fish has pulled after it, you can milk a lot of fishing situations for laughs.

Fishing can be used in a story of suspense. It gives characters an excuse to break out of their normal routines as they head out on a fishing trip. Then you can dump them into unfamiliar settings, peopled with hostile characters. Such as a criminal, who is on the FBI’s most wanted list, purses two fishing buddies, who stumbled across his hideout in the mountains. With the criminal after them, the buddies have only the contents of their tackle boxes to use as some kind of defense.

The bond that can occur during fishing is a wonderful way to explore family relationships or friendships of characters. A grandfather, who loves fishing, can’t interest any of his grandchildren until the most unlikely one falls in love with it. Two very disparate characters chance upon each other at a secluded fishing spot and begin a friendship.

Gardening

Gardening can be the setting for the renewal of relationships or some quality within the main character. The hard work can be a metaphor for other types of labor in a character’s life. Or you can look on the lighter side. Maybe a husband, recently retired, wants to learn about gardening from his wife, who finds he’s more of a hindrance than a help.

To find inspiration for other months of the year, click here.

How would you use June in a story?

June 3, 2024 1

Using Color in Our Stories

How to write about the sense of sight is just too broad a subject for one post. So I’m focusing on using color in our stories to bring scenes to life that might lie dead if we rely solely on the tried-and-true descriptions using sight. I’ve loved exploring the names of colors, but before I discuss how to add color to our writing, I have to ask …

Does using a lot of colors make sense for your story?

The main character of my teen cozy mystery series is Rae Riley, a twenty-year-old amateur photographer. Because photography is her hobby, it makes sense to mention colors when I write from her first person point of view. It’s something the character would notice, so I can include. To give you an opposite example, fashion is not a hobby of Rae’s. So when she describes characters, she isn’t focused on their clothes unless it makes a definite impression on her.

Examine your point of view characters. Would any of them notice colors? Why? Understanding your characters will help you use colors in their descriptions correctly. But those aren’t the only people you have to understand.

Use colors readers can related to.

Last spring, I made a study of colors. I typed into Google phrases like “shades of brown” and then looked at the many names for different shades of brown. The site where I found the most helpful graphics was “Color Meanings”. Here’s the link for shades of brown.

As I read each name and looked at the color, I jotted down which colors readers would instantly recognize and which ones my character would know. “Coffee”, “caramel”, “cinnamon”, “beige”, and “sand” were all names that would bring an instant mental picture to readers. But others like “ecru”, “bistre”, and “ocher” might force readers to put down my novel to look up what in the world I was talking about. And would a young woman who wasn’t a painter use words like that? So I used names that were both appropriate for readers and my character.

Make the colors fit the genre.

I like to immerse my readers in my settings. But since I write mysteries, I can’t get bogged down in descriptions. If I wrote historical fiction, I might have more space to paint more vivid descriptions. Knowing what readers expect in your genre helps you decide how to write descriptions and employ color.

Here’s an example of how I used colors in to paint the scenes of a Memorial Day picnic at lake in a state park in Ohio.

“Families and groups of friends dotted the imported sand, clusters of wet, deep colors and pastels decorating the drab ground. Rick Carlisle tossed his seven-year-old nephew and namesake Richard into shallow water while his nine-year-old niece Alli paddled on an inflatable, pink swan. Under the picnic shelter on the edge of the beach, Senator Schuster chatted with an elderly man and scooped something from a vivid tangerine bowl. About twenty people milled in and out of the shelter from preschoolers to senior citizens, so it was probably a family gathering, rather than a political one.”

from A Storm of Doubts by JPC Allen

For more tips on writing with the senses, click here.

What books or stories have you read that used color well?

May 30, 2024 5

JPC Allen Writes