Lesson 4: Plot

Middle

The middle of your story is where you throw things at your main character that trip her up. Wrong turns, obstacles, moral dilemmas, etc. This is the longest part your novel. It's everything that stands between your characters and what they want. A common method of developing your plot is by asking "What if...?" of each situation your characters encounter.

There should be tension on every page. Leave out boring experiences that don't directly advance the story such as drives from place to place, showers, waking each morning, etc. Character, plot, and theme are your tools for advancing the story. A drive from one location to the next could give important information about character, plot, or theme, but if it doesn't, skip it. Your readers will automatically fill it in without having been bored by reading it.

Foreshadowing. You may use subtle hints about where the story is going, but don't give it away.

Flashback. Dramatizing something that happened in a character's history through the use of memories, etc., should actually result in moving the story forward by giving the readers essential information for understanding what is happening in the present. You can avoid using flashbacks by simply having one character tell another what happened.

Flashforward. You can hook your readers by beginning in the future, then going back to tell how your characters arrived at that point.

Subplots. This middle section is where any subplots are commonly introduced. I'll discuss them in the next section.