#creating obstacles

[writing-ideas-inc]

Hi there ! Question about plot & flow of a story. I've got my plot line mapped out from start to end with one or two main conflicts throughout the story, but when starting to write I am realizing that i am lacking a lot of the "middle stuff". I don't want to jump to the major conflicts because my story will end up being way too short. Any advice on how to come up with more situations, conflicts etc when planning/writing a novel?

The middle of the story is usually the hardest for most writers, including myself, to write. We know where our characters begin, and where they should end up, but we’re unsure of how they get there. 

The journey your characters go on shouldn’t be easy. They shouldn’t win every battle or solve every problem with ease. Problems should arise, and they should run into obstacles besides the main conflict. Make your characters work to get to the climatic point of your novel. (Think about Muphy’s Law! Anything bad that can happen, will happen). 

Here’s a couple ideas that can help you fill in your empty middle:

Include a subplot: A lot of novels have some kind of subplot that is happening during the main plot. Maybe the protagonist has fallen in love and is trying to begin a relationship, maybe they have a personal goal and want to change something about themselves on their journey, or maybe they have to go on a “mini-quest” of sorts to convince possible allies to join them. 

Create more obstacles: Don’t let your characters rest for too long. Throw a problem at them. Things seeming a little too peaceful? Throw in some chaos, create a new problem the characters have to deal with, have a character make a big mistake. Maybe they get lost. Maybe one of their plans fails. Maybe the “worst-case scenario” did happen. Maybe something happened and a character was killed, and now the rest of the team has to figure out what to do, while mourning their friend.

Use the middle to explore the main plot/let your characters discover important information: Perhaps there’s someone that could help defeat the villain, but the main characters have no idea who this special person is and must look for them if they want help in defeating Villain. Maybe they need to collect evidence of the villain’s misdeeds, or maybe there are just questions that haven’t been answered yet. Write a scene or two that feature your characters trying to solve a problem or discover more information that could help them later on in the story.

Here’s a link to multiple articles about plot development and creating scenarios for a story:

http://www.springhole.net/writing/plots-and-plot-construction.htm

And an article about whether a scene/conflict in a story is good or not

http://www.springhole.net/writing/is-this-a-good-idea-for-my-story-setting-character.htm

Hope this helps!

Mod Carolyn @theories-fans-andwombats

[czarinasrobertcarlyle-blog-blog]

GASLIGHTING:

Gaslighting A form of intimidation or psychological abuse, sometimes called Ambient Abuse where false information is presented to the victim, making them doubt their own memory, perception and quite often, their sanity. The classic example of gaslighting is to switch something around on someone that you know they're sure to notice, but then deny knowing anything about it, and to explain that they "must be imagining things" when they challenge these changes. A more psychological definition of gaslighting is "an increasing frequency of systematically withholding factual information from, and/or providing false information to, the victim - having the gradual effect of making them anxious, confused, and less able to trust their own memory and perception. Your spouse begins telling you things that never really happened. For instance, he says that last week he told you he was going to go to the bar with his buddies this Monday night, but you never remember him telling you that. Or maybe your boss gets angry because you didn't prepare the report he asked you to. When you remind him that he usually prepares that particular report, he snaps that he told you to take care of it a few days ago because he was too busy. However, you know he never asked you to do so. Both of these could be considered gaslighting.