Thursday, April 29: Femme Fatale
THE MIDDLE OF EVERYTHING
by Deborah Elliott-Upton
Creating the beginning of a new story is easy for me. The ending usually is too. It’s the nether regions of the middle that seem to play havoc with a writer. I remember taking a screenplay workshop from a woman who worked on a semi-famous movie that starred names everyone would recognize. (I’m keeping mum on all of it because some of the tales she told were risqué and I’m not so sure were all true, but they did make interesting talk over glasses of wine) She recounted various troubles between actors and directors, the critical importance of the opening scene on the big screen and of course, problems with the second act.
It’s always the second act that is the most difficult. I was wondering if that’s true in everything. Do more divorces occur in the years between newly-wed and the Silver or Gold Anniversaries? Are the teenage years rougher than terrible two’s or leaving for college angst? Maybe I could agree with this concept, except I have no problem with an entrée between soup and dessert.
I have decided that my second act in a story will forever be my main dish and I will treat it with respect. If its preparation is time consuming or requires additional work like marinating, it is only because of its importance to the entire meal.
The beginning of a story is like an appetizer. The idea is to make the reader hungry for more. Whet the appetite, but don’t completely fill your guest. Keep the appetizer lite, but sumptuous. The ending is coffee with an amazing dessert. You’ve just dined on a fabulous meal and even now, you are remembering the best parts, but in a slower, more relaxed mood.
The middle must taste better than anyone expected. This is where the twists and turns fill the reader with flavor. Again, not too much, not too little.
New writers are often so in love with writing, they want to share every thought on paper. They tend to pile on too much in the opening, leaving the middle to flounder, fighting for attention. The reader is not someone who had been stranded on a deserted island, eager to toss anything into his mouth and be satisfied. Instead, he is a bit of a snob with a sophisticated palate. He’s eaten really good food and if he’s hungry, why would he settle for less when quality is the same price?
I have heard of some producers opening the script to the middle and begin reading. Kind of scary, isn’t it? I can hear the writers screaming, “No! They don’t even know why he’d do that!” Exactly. They don’t, but if it isn’t good enough to arouse his wanting to know why the hero did that, the writer missed the point anyway.
I believe I could open a Sherlock Holmes adventure or anything by Charles Dickens or Stephen King and become interested enough to read the entire story. This is a personal challenge: go to any bookstore, library or your own collection and open a story you haven’t previously read and begin reading in the middle. Read no more than a minute tops. Are you interested in what you just read enough to continue either forward or from the beginning? I think this is where we separate the good writers from the great ones. Let me know your results. I promise not to skip to the middle to see your reactions.
Great column! I love anything that turns the attenton to food!! LOL!!
I don’t usually start to write a story until I have the middle already mapped out. I think the most difficult part of a story to write is its climax.
So if you like appetizers, short stories are the way to go?
I believe a short story is more like a brunch. You’ve got everything you need and you’re probably going to be satisified even if it wasn’t an 8 course meal.
So yours are mexican inspired? filling and spicy
It’s the beginnings that are hard for me.
And this theory does not apply to everything. If a dude has too bountiful of a middle he’ll have hell ever reaching climax.
The end/climax are toughest for me. I never know how I want my story to end!
I never know how I want my story to end!
There is a theory prevalent among short story writers that short stories are justified by their endings. It ain’t necessarily so as far as I’m concerned, but on the other hand, I do think that it’s important to know the ending before starting to write, in order to have something to aim at. Otherwise the story will be all over the map. That might work for a novel, but it’s the kiss of death for a short story.
The difficulty with writing climaxes is not that they are hard to plot, but that they are hard to write, meaning to use such verbiage as best accomplishes the purpose. Openings are important in that they must engage the reader’s interest, but the climax is the one place in the story where the author absolutely must grab the reader by the throat and not let go.