People often refer to the mid-point (or Act two) of their novels as (like the blight of aging), the saggy middle.
The middle is a Labyrinth. It's easy to get lost in. It's easy to convince yourself that you're going in circles. We would love to stumble across a minotaur or two in there - thank God; a bit of drama and intrigue.
The middle contains a lot of exposition, that is, backstory and talking with less action, what with the hook behind you and the climaxes at the end (as a rule). It's not as exciting or as easy to structure. It can wander off, like a thoughtless child and cover an incredible amount of ground before it gets to the point.
Hence saggy, unwieldy, excessive.
I wish I could complain that I'm currently battling my saggy middle (physically, always) because that would mean I was editing the core of my book. Instead, I'm just about to leave Act One, with a definite sense of limbo - cue rolling haystacks and lift music.
I'm just not finding it as rewarding. All of my 'ah ha!' moments were during the structuring phase, where I felt limitless and creative, but now I'm stuck following the plan. Before was playing around, an endless series of 'what ifs' but now it's all mostly decided.
And, yes, you've guessed what's at the heart of my whinge, It's hard work.
I am terrible at hard work, like a cat held over a bath of water, I will do almost anything to get out of it.
So I've started committing to smaller deadlines with my digital writing group, weekly goals. There's something about public announcements that gets me though. It's the dread of having to admit I've failed. Because if there's one thing I hate more than trying, it's failing.
The goals I put up there are feasible, more than that, they're easy. Secretly I want to beat them, and it's within my power to. That's the point.
I've edited 11 of 34 present tense chapters (I'm not including flashback chapters as I haven't....err....factored them in whatsoever yet).
I want to finish April with 12 done. That will leave me with 22 to complete in May - 5 or 6 a week (Jesus Christ). Then first week of June for flashbacks and last two weeks for line/style edits.
And off to the printers!
Sometimes plans make you feel hopeful. Sometimes (as is very clear in this case) they make you feel hopeless.
If I'm honest, I lost most of April to a combination of '13 Reasons Why' and Gin (not at the same time).
I guess I better get on with it then...
