Ah. The middle.
Writing a book is full of many challenges. If you made it past coming up with an idea and scribbling a beginning, this is the part where the true writer in you will open up.
I could say a lot about writing the middle of a book. There’s a lot to talk about. The middle of the book is called the body. It’s where the bulk of your book will be written. Your beginning is only a short glimpse into the middle.
When you have finished a beginning that works, it’s time for you to begin writing the body. I’ve already said your beginning might and probably will change. It probably won’t affect this part. Every time I have rewritten the beginning, it connects to the middle in the same way as my previous version.
Before you begin, you need to make sure you have some parts of your book planned out already. Most of the time, I only have the main events in my book planned out before I write them. As I write in the moment, I think of the right words to say and any smaller sub-events that happen. For example, in the current book I am working on, my character is trying to get to London. That’s what I plan for. But having Felix stop to spend the night at a small inn was something that happened at the moment of writing, and as it turned out, that led to my being able to incorporate two more characters who would work into the storyline perfectly, and eventually play an important role.
That’s how you need to approach writing your body. You need to know stepping stones, the bones of the story. You know your character needs to meet the girl and fall in love. But how does he do that? Sometimes the best way is to just start writing. For me, the circumstance resembles following along in my character’s eyes. I pretend I’m Felix. How am I supposed to get to London? Well, luckily Felix has the magical powers to be able to create an airship. But airships are loud. He’s got to land it far out in the countryside to avoid being seen. Then he needs to walk out of the woods to get close to London. But it’s already starting to become nighttime. He has to spend the night somewhere, doesn’t he? Why not have him stop at an inn which you conveniently just created?
You see? As you follow along, you’ll realize your character’s small actions—the long car rides, the moment looking at a flower, the glance into the sky to watch a hawk, the tripping over a tree root, the stepping into a mud puddle—these are the muscles to flesh out the bones of the book. These are the things which can only be written if you look into your book from the eyes of your character, realize what is happening, and write the setting and events accordingly.
That’s the real secret of writing the body. You’re not making up what happens to the character. You are the character, writing about what the character does and sees. Don’t be an observer watching someone. Be the person the would-be observer is watching. If I am simply watching Felix, I won’t know why he is frowning. If I am Felix, I’ll know he’s frowning because he doesn’t know where to spend the night, until he sees the inn coming around the bend.
That’s what you need to do as you write your beginning. Take your time. Don’t say Felix flew from the castle to London. Show the reader how he does it. Don’t say Felix went through another day of classes at the Magic Symphony. Talk about how much he enjoyed learning a new aspect to magic, how he had to hurry to eat his lunch to make it to class.
Stopping to focus on a character is one of the best ways you can get a reader to identify with your character. I can’t relate to someone flying an airship to a distant city. But I can relate with being late and walking outside when night is about to fall.
“Zooming in” on your character is also perfect for developing personality. If I didn’t know why Felix was frowning, I wouldn’t know that being late is one of his biggest pet peeves. You see? Slowing down, filling in the plot points as you go, and stopping to record the moments are the best way you can write your middle.
Of course, I just wrote that and made it sound a lot easier than it is. Sometimes I don’t even remember to do it myself. Writing through my characters’ eyes is something I have trouble with myself. But it’s the best way to make your character a realistic person, someone real.
Writing like this can be very exhausting and it takes a long time, depending on your book. But if you have determination, you can do it.
In next week’s post, I’ll tell you some helpful habits I’ve come up with for writing.
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