"Hurt the Bunnies"- Inspiration Station 2

So here we are, almost half-way through Nano! And some of us are half-way through our nano novels too! Hooray!

But one thing that happens around this half-way point in any novel is that the author hits that nebulous place called "the middle."

The middle is what happens between the beginning and the end of a book.

And the middle is where we authors often get stuck. Our characters begin to flounder. They may start having lots of unimportant conversations, or wandering around doing lots of activities that may seem important when we write them, but that aren't always moving our characters forward toward where we want them to be in the end. It can be very frustrating!

So, for inspiration this week, here are some suggestions shared by speaker Pam Zollman at the recent SCBWI Carolina's Conference.

Pam said:

1.) When you get stuck in the middle, it may be because you have used up all of the information you know about your character. It's important to know what makes them tick.

2.) Readers don't want to read about cute little bunnies that are doing just fine. We want to read about bunnies that have problems. "So, hurt the bunnies."

3.) Know what your character is afraid of, and throw it at him.

4.) Don't make the ending simple. Make it hard for your characters to get there. Make them struggle hard throughout the middle.

5.) Getting bored? Something not working? Try a change of scenery - time, location or character attributes.

And last but not least...

6. Just keep writing. The only reason you're stuck is because you stopped writing.

Thanks Pam!

Best of luck to all as we press on throughout the second half of Nano 2008!

See you next Monday for another "Inspiration Station" post.