can you give me some advice? i always know exactly what i want to write for a cold opening/inciting incident and exactly what i want to write for an ending, but everything in between i just have no good ideas and have rewritten no less than forty times. any advice for coming up with a beginning and middle? i’m dying.
You're at a great point, to be honest - having the ending figured out is half the battle right there. For the rest of it, there's two pathways to consider
The Big Turning Points in the External Plot:
The Beginning - This is your world before, where you establish the status quo. You'll also establish what needs changing (an evil empire, a toxic relationship, facing the first day of school). The important thing to think about here is whatever you want the ending to resolve or confront will have its establishing roots in the beginning. If the main character ends with leaving his abusive home and finding comfort in friends and therapy, then we need to firmly establish that home in the beginning.
The Inciting Event - While this is where things change, it's merely the jumpstart of the change. The important thing to know is there's no path back to before the inciting event happens (joined the rebellion, slapped the abusive ex, passed out in front of your fifth grade class). The only path for the main character to take is forward.
The Middle (or Mid-Climax) - Your character seemingly finds the solution to their problem, but it backfires/makes things worse/leads to a bigger problem (saving the princess means the Death Star is tracking you down, leaving the state means your ex will ruin your reputation, the rush to get with the cool kids deeply hurts your best friend). One of the better ways of thinking about this is your character has been circling around how to fix their problem with solutions that don't work, and after the middle will have to turn down the path of finding what will.
The Climax - The big end fight, etc. We resolve the external plot (we blow up the Death Star!) because we've faced an internal crisis and beat it (believed in ourselves/the force). Or... this is a tragedy and the reverse happens. Either way, potential is realized, grasped, or lost.
The Ending - I think when you said you had an ending you might be thinking of the climax, but what I mean by ending here is just Wrapping Things Up. It's the final shot of the movie, it's the last chapter in finding out where our characters end up. It's the epilogue or sequel bait. Basically, you'll give your readers one last emotional ping to send them off on.
Now, it's easy to put those cards together, but how do you actually use them? I want you to switch gears and think about your story from a character standpoint. You have where your characters ended up - now what did they need to do to get there?
The Big Turning Points of the Internal Plot:
The Need for Change - The beginning is where you'll introduce your characters, their wants and needs, and establish what they need to accomplish even if they don't know it yet. Luke Skywalker is restless on his farm while the galaxy goes very wrong around him. We know what's wrong and what will need changed, even if he doesn't yet.
The No Return - The inciting event will yank your main character into your main plotline. Whatever happens will force them forward no matter how much they want to go back. A traumatic event, a witnessed attack, something that they can't run from, even if they try. Mirabel witnesses the house starting to fall about in Encanto. Even when no one else sees it or believes her, she knows she can't pretend it didn't happen.
The False Victory/Defeat - The path to the middle is best described as "the wrong way" in my book. The main character tries to fix the problem, but because they won't confront their own flaws or fears, they bungle it. They seek out someone else to solve the problem, or invest in the easy way out, and it doesn't work (or creates a bigger problem). The false victory is when things should have worked, but didn't. The false defeat is when things go badly wrong - but the main characters double down to fix it regardless.
The Road to the Climax - If your characters have been trying to fix things the wrong way in the first half of the book, the second is about fixing things the right way. Confronting fears, facing painful realizations, breaking out of toxic relationship - this part of the book will give your characters the tools they need to face the climax.
Weave these two together and you'll be able to find your footing. Get stuck in an action point (external plot), think about how it's affecting your character points (internal plot). If you already have an ending, sometimes the easiest thing to do is to work backwards. Good luck!
