Friday, April 16, 2010

Arc Shmarck!

Okay, I actually sat down last night, notes and 'outline' on lap, and tried to create a plot arc to help me flesh out my wannabe novel. I didn't have as much juicy material as I thought I did! Not surprisingly, the middle of the book is flagging. Got my beginning, got my end, now...to bridge the two. I mean, how many books have we all read that contain this awkward, draggy middle bit? Too many. Gotta remedy that. This day is busy; art in the morning, laundry, weeding in the garden at some point, and major plottings in around making curry for dinner. Wish my DAY flagged a little in the middle! Anywho, off to the races!

2 comments:

  1. Progress! yay! I have the same problem. The dreaded middle. But as long as you have your beginning, and ending, as you start writing, your characters will probably start surprising you with stuff they want to do in the middle bits.

    Check out Jim Butcher's advice on middles:
    http://jimbutcher.livejournal.com/1865.html

    I pimp him out a lot because he's my current favorite author, but also because his books are page turners, (for me anyway! lol) so he must be doing something right in the middle. Heh.

    k.

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  2. I actually have some of his thoughts printed out; I like the way he works! That's where I pilfered the arc idea, from your blog pimping his journal. *highfive* I just want to get the major points in place, and let the characters wander between them (which is something akin to herding cats, I must add.) I'm lucky in that I have a hubby who is a primo problem solver. We talked about my sagging middle (both literally and figuratively, ahem!) over lunch. With luck and a prayer, the arc should be fairly solid by tonight. Fingers crossed! Time for some stinkin' progress, dang.

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Christine (Cris) Griffin is a mother, wife, writer and artist. For queries, feel free to drop an email to alizarin _ griffin AT yahoo.com. Chin-chin!