Finding the middle?

[BrokenSpokes]

So I just published my first effort (thanks for the positive feedback to those who commented.) It’s going to be a rather long series. I have the first third well in hand. And I have the last third mapped out pretty well. I am not entirely sure how I’m going to connect the two.

Anyone else ever have this problem? How do you work through it? Any advice?

Thanks,

Newbie author.

 

[KeithD]

No, I don't, because, although I could have some ideas of both beginning and ending in my mind, when I sit down to write, I write from beginning, through middle, to the end, and I don't do it with a detailed outline written out. The middle isn't something I just tack in for bulk or transition--it's part of the continuous flow. I can see where those who don't start writing until they have an outline done and think in terms of sections, with some mapped out out of order, will have this issue sometimes.

 

[eroticstoryspinner]

Congrats on the strong start!

If you have more stores reedy submit them every few days to keep interest. I had a big drop off in readers because I was not able to keep the flow going regularly.

As for the middle...you know where you started from and know where you are going. Think of where you go and make sure that the characters journeys are supported as to where you wind up. Kind of vague I grant you, but not know your outline not much more than I could say.

 

[SimonDoom]

I get this all the time. I like to outline my stories, and I usually have a good idea about the beginning and the end before I work out the middle.

It's hard to give advice in the abstract. Every story is different. In general, though, I'd say this: keep your ending in mind as you write the middle. Eliminate the stuff that isn't necessary to moving your story toward the end that you want. Develop the characters so the ending makes sense.

 

[A_Little_Show]

I write non-fiction with a detailed outline. In fact, book proposals usually contain a detailed outline of every chapter. The outline is sent to technical reviewers so the publisher gets a sense of whether the proposed content is the content the market wants. The detailed outline then becomes part of the book's contract. In my experience, the work up front makes the technical content practically write itself. Each item in the outline turns into one to ten paragraphs. The most time consuming remainder is diagrams, tables, and figures.

I have been writing my smut-fiction using an entirely different process. I have a goal/question that is usually not particularly erotic. How do these people end up together? What lesson will a character learn that enables growth? What emotion(s) am I trying to evoke? Why do characters end up in conflict? What attracts the protagonist(s) to others. When I know one or two of those things, I start imagining scenes almost like a movie script in my mind. I sometimes forget to put erotic elements in, but it's not difficult for me to sprinkle in aspects that titiliate me - they just weren't necessarily the original point of the scene.

So where does the middle come from? There is no middle. It is one whole story that I imagine in its entirety in terms of how my question(s) gets answered. I don't know the exact actions or dialog that will take place in each scene, but I know what happens next, and what happened before. By keeping scenes short, I focus on getting from "before" to "next" as aesthetically and erotically as I can. Some scenes end up better than others. Sometimes I delete a whole scene or cut it. In my mind, it's like film editing.

The real problem is that I sometimes find my own characters to be deplorable and unattractive to ME. I either abandon the story, or I try rewriting the scenes to make the characters more relatable and attractive. Most recently, I had my story, "A Secret of Witchcraft" deleted. Then, I wrote 40,000 words of "what happens to the character after the deleted story?" I made the protagonist over the top wild. I was then inspired to write a prequel that helps to explain how the protagonist got so ridiculously cavalier with her exhibitionism. Et Viola' the new "A Sercret of Witchcraft" popped out of my mind. It's much better than the old one because I wrote it with an end in mind. I had a specific and interesting (to me) question to answer.

 

[A_Little_Show]

ISo where does the middle come from? There is no middle. It is one whole story that I imagine in its entirety in terms of how my question(s) gets answered. I don't know the exact actions or dialog that will take place in each scene, but I know what happens next, and what happened before. By keeping scenes short, I focus on getting from "before" to "next" as aesthetically and erotically as I can. Some scenes end up better than others. Sometimes I delete a whole scene or cut it. In my mind, it's like film editing.

As a shorter example, my SUMMER LOVIN entry had one question to answer: How does the protagonist/narrator make the emotional journey from insecure naive jealous monogamist to a lover of group sex on the way to polyamory. The answer was that a certain relationship had to break the protagonist, and his friends needed to put him back together, better - stronger - faster. My focus became crafting a group of friends who form a healthy whole out of individual quirks. The character embraces the group because the whole is so much greater than the parts. After emotional growth, a healthier relationship is possible with the original love interest.

I knew all that before I wrote the first word. I knew in general terms what would break the character. I knew in general terms what was needed to put him back together. I knew the nature of the group relationships that would form.

It's debatable whether I achieved my goals, but those were my goals.

After I felt like I achieved my goals, it occurred to me that I didn't explicitly write the epiphany that took place. I also hadn't provided motivation/rationale for the key character who rebuilds the protagonist. I added two new scenes at the end. The new scenes are from a different group member's point of view. I used the scenes and the dialog of the second scene to explain the rational for the emotional growth I imagined. I have the first protagonist straight up tell the reader how he is overcoming jealousy as a side effect of discussing his feelings with the narrator of the last part.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Never happens to me, because I rarely have a pre-conceived conclusion for any story. I start writing, characters take over and insist on being written, and I keep going until there's a natural place to stop. I never know where the "middle" of a story is, until the end.

 

[Hypoxia]

Setup-Development-Resolution. Mark Twain's 3-act structure: 1) send folks up a tree; 2) throw rocks at them; 3) see if they come down. A good pattern.

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote that “there are no second acts in American lives,” often misinterpreted as "no second chances." But he echoes Clemenceau: “America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization.” IOW in a Setup-Development-Finale structure, Development is omitted in USA. There is no middle. "The center cannot hold." We're doomed.

Okay, back to the OP. In an adventure tale, the middle is a set of challenges, chases, narrow escapes. In a romance, it's a pile of impediments for the would-be lovers. In incest, it's maneuvering around the taboo violation. In a picaresque narrative, it's just one damn thing (or fuck) after another. That second acts triggers the third act. Make it so.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Speaking in basic terms, the middle (by which I assume you mean the second act) should be escalation of the conflict. The beginning should be for establishment, the middle escalation and the end resolution. In porn terms, the beginning should be character intro and conflict intro, the middle should be buildup and the ending the money shot.

Example; writer establishes characters who are long-married and the sex has become stagnant. One decides to suggest they try swinging. The conflict is presented here; uncertainty over how the other will respond and uncertainty over how the experimentation will play out. Second act; they make plans to visit a swingers club. The trip is nervous and they watch each other closely, creating suspense. Are they too jealous? Is one having a blast and the other uninterested? Third act; turns out everybody's fine with it, and in fact enjoys themselves. Conflict resolves here. No damaged marriage, both are happy. Wife gets spit-roasted while husband watches and ass-fucks hot girl (who may as well turn out to the be pretty neighbor next door... cuz porn, that's why). Everyone comes; happily ever after.

As conflict goes, it isn't much; nor is the resolution, but porn doesn't leave much room for such things. Problems aren't really solved with blow jobs.

Point is, if you're having trouble with the middle part, one of two things is most likely wrong:

1. You're misunderstanding your own conflict. It's escalating in the beginning and carrying over into the end and you're not realizing: what you're trudging through isn't the middle, it's filler, and unnecessary. The middle was already there and you missed it somehow.

2. You don't really have a conflict. There's nothing from beginning to end to escalate, therefore, again, you're dumping filler in there without purpose. This is worse than possibility one; if this is the case, the middle is without purpose because the story itself is without purpose.

Let's hope it's the first, or something else.

Q_C

 

[Hypoxia]

Billy Wilder's ten rules of screenwriting:

1. The audience is fickle.
2. Grab 'em by the throat and never let 'em go.
3. Develop a clean line of action for your leading character.
4. Know where you're going.
5. The more subtle and elegant you are in hiding your plot points, the better you are as a writer.
6. If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act.
7. A tip from Lubitsch: Let the audience add up two plus two. They'll love you forever.
8. In doing voice-overs, be careful not to describe what the audience already sees. Add to what they're seeing.
9. The event that occurs at the second act curtain triggers the end of the movie.
10. The third act must build, build, build in tempo and action until the last event, and then -- that's it. Don't hang around.

 

[KeithD]

[*] The third act must build, build, build in tempo and action until the last event, and then -- that's it. Don't hang around.
[/list]

But . . . but . . . aren't you going to write what happens next?

 

[Hypoxia]

But . . . but . . . aren't you going to write what happens next?

Did Billy Wilder ever?

 

[KeithD]

Did Billy Wilder ever?

Coverall Response #32: I don't know. Shall we call him and ask?

 

[Quiet_Cool]

But . . . but . . . aren't you going to write what happens next?

You never write what's next. Golden Rule : "No cuddling afterwards."

Q_C

 

[ElectricBlue]

You never write what's next. Golden Rule : "No cuddling afterwards."

Damn. There go my last hundred words .

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Damn. There go my last hundred words .

A hundred words? How can it take that long to say, "I put my arms around her and pretended to listen"?

Q_C

 

[ElectricBlue]

A hundred words? How can it take that long to say, "I put my arms around her and pretended to listen"?

You've obviously not read my stories. Also, I always listen...

 

[SimonDoom]

You never write what's next. Golden Rule : "No cuddling afterwards."

Q_C

I wrote a story two years ago with cuddling afterwards, and for two months it was the number one most-viewed story on Literotica that had been published in the previous 12 months. It's currently the 133rd most favorited story of all time on Literotica, and rising.

There are no Golden Rules.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

I wrote a story two years ago with cuddling afterwards, and for two months it was the number one most-viewed story on Literotica that had been published in the previous 12 months. It's currently the 133rd most favorited story of all time on Literotica, and rising.

There are no Golden Rules.

It was a combination joke/metaphor; two of you in a row posted responses as though it were serious. I'm not sure what to make of that.

Furthermore, having cuddling and being favorited doesn't tied the two together. Truth be told, if they're cuddling afterward, those who favorited it had already read the story up until that point. The concept that they read the story, the foreplay, the action, the moneyshot if there was one, crescendo if not, all the while thinking "it's only worth the journey if they snuggle" seems a bit naive.

Maybe I'm wrong, but... the logic isn't all that compelling, is all.

Q_C

p.s. sorry for the tangent to the thread's initial intent.

 

[KeithD]

It was a combination joke/metaphor; two of you in a row posted responses as though it were serious. I'm not sure what to make of that.

Furthermore, having cuddling and being favorited doesn't tied the two together. Truth be told, if they're cuddling afterward, those who favorited it had already read the story up until that point. The concept that they read the story, the foreplay, the action, the moneyshot if there was one, crescendo if not, all the while thinking "it's only worth the journey if they snuggle" seems a bit naive.

Maybe I'm wrong, but... the logic isn't all that compelling, is all.

Q_C

p.s. sorry for the tangent to the thread's initial intent.

And maybe you missed that I was just giving the standard reader post to most every story posted here even if all of the characters are slaughtered in the end(?)

 

[Quiet_Cool]

I wrote a story two years ago with cuddling afterwards, and for two months it was the number one most-viewed story on Literotica that had been published in the previous 12 months. It's currently the 133rd most favorited story of all time on Literotica, and rising.

There are no Golden Rules.

On a side note, where do you find such statistics? Just curiosity.

Q_C

 

[Quiet_Cool]

And maybe you missed that I was just giving the standard reader post to most every story posted here even if all of the characters are slaughtered in the end(?)

No, I caught it.












I think this is that moment where Bart and Homer just look at each other and blink.

Q_C

 

[SimonDoom]

On a side note, where do you find such statistics? Just curiosity.

Q_C

Re statistics: My answer is based upon the 12-month most-viewed toplist, and on the most favorited story toplist accessible through the control panel.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Re statistics: My answer is based upon the 12-month most-viewed toplist, and on the most favorited story toplist accessible through the control panel.

Thank You

Q_C

 

[8letters]

So I just published my first effort (thanks for the positive feedback to those who commented.) It’s going to be a rather long series. I have the first third well in hand. And I have the last third mapped out pretty well. I am not entirely sure how I’m going to connect the two.

Anyone else ever have this problem? How do you work through it? Any advice?

I'm not going to repeat what other people have written. Plan, outline, blah, blah, blah, conflict, build tempo, blah, blah, blah.

First advice - don't start publishing on Literotica with a long series. It's a little late for this advice, but you didn't ask sooner. Your writing is going to improve tremendously as you publish and get more experience. Your first few chapters are going to be your weakest chapters. You're going to lose a lot of your audience before you really hit your writing stride.

Second advice - submit longer stuff. I'm not sure how well this advice applies to a long chapter series. For stand-alone stories, each additional page up to 6 pages results in improvement in number of favorites, rating and number of comments. Your first two chapters are two pages. Most readers are just getting into the action when it ends. As this is a porn site, most if not all of your readers are reading your story to get off. Two pages is an iffy amount of material for them to do so.

As for not having a middle, it's tough to advice on such a vague question. I look at writing as laying out dominoes. I'd suggest listing the dominoes that need to be in place before you start the ending, and then map out how you're going to get from the beginning to having all those dominoes in place.