THE SAGGY MIDDLE

The saggy middle plagues many novels, even published ones. My first self edited draft was no exception. When a Literary Consultant read my one page synopsis, her expert editorial eye spotted this immediately. When I received my MS back from the editor, she commissioned to read my work, this aspect was highlighted in far greater detail.

I’m not sure what causes this. Perhaps it’s because we’re all fired up at the beginning and lose steam as our stories take shape. Maybe it’s down to complacency, or impatience to get to the end. Whatever the reason it is something we need to pay attention to.

The second half of my novel has required ten times more work than the first. It is where the editing stopped and some serious rewriting began. Over the next few posts I’ll try to illustrate some of the changes I have made.

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