tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1755502616289652010.post1862916190630880398..comments2024-03-29T06:57:01.951-05:00Comments on The Storyteller's Inkpot: the middle morassUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1755502616289652010.post-18694019528552545832010-12-07T10:58:32.347-06:002010-12-07T10:58:32.347-06:00I've noticed that when I take Donald Maass'...I've noticed that when I take Donald Maass's advice and add tension to every page, the MC starts coming alive more. She's not just walking through the story, she becomes an active player. Now she's suspicious. Now she's scared! Now she's going head the scoundrels off at the pass. <br /><br />Also I find it really helps to kill people off in a story. Even if you write a scene where you kill 'em and then throw out the scene, the characters you killed and the others around them suddenly become extremely motivated. Obviously you can't do this too often.Melinda R. Cordellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02924404257237523106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1755502616289652010.post-6170699616758748312010-12-04T20:06:05.023-06:002010-12-04T20:06:05.023-06:00Absolutely Rebecca. And yet sometimes even though ...Absolutely Rebecca. And yet sometimes even though what you are writing is boring, it is supposed to be there. I love the exercises to spice up the writing, or to tighten the tension. (Hint. Hint! Bring them on authors!)molly b. burnhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03244578003834630167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1755502616289652010.post-3707698031006960552010-12-04T07:31:58.178-06:002010-12-04T07:31:58.178-06:00Reminds me of my favorite quote: If you're bor...Reminds me of my favorite quote: If you're bored writing it, it's probably boring.Rebeccahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15292597646595740720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1755502616289652010.post-71969536344307985152010-12-03T15:39:15.420-06:002010-12-03T15:39:15.420-06:00We had several post on this subject about a year. ...We had several post on this subject about a year. I never get sick of it: The muddling middle! Perhaps this is wrong to admit and maybe even not the point of this at all but I think almost every book I read has that middle section where I get bored and want the end to come. Is it poor writing? Doubt it. Is it my own impatience to get to the delicious resolution (the creamy caramel center of a chocolate)? Of course, there is my boredom with my own writing and the middle sections that is the worst. The moment in the middle when I think I might possibly fall asleep in the middle of typing. I like the idea of working backwards.molly b. burnhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03244578003834630167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1755502616289652010.post-78329366269838119882010-12-03T08:19:34.215-06:002010-12-03T08:19:34.215-06:00At the end of the Whole Novel Workshop in Honesdal...At the end of the Whole Novel Workshop in Honesdale, where Phyllis and I taught together, everyone gave a five minute reading from a work in progress. I read a chapter that I thought was in the exact middle of a novel. A student asked, afterward, if that chapter was near the end. And I realized it should be. This allowed me to restructure both the middle and the end of the novel. As so often happens, it is the outside reader or listener who can help us through the dreaded middles of our stories.Liza Ketchumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04926743479295373837noreply@blogger.com