My Mid-Book Crisis

I'm hitting a wall with Weather Vane Island. I'm on chapter 8 and, despite the grouping of many tiny adventures, a question still lingers: "When is the story going to begin?" Looking at the manuscript, I feel dejected. I can only shrug my shoulders and answer: "I don't know."

This is familiar territory for me. I ran into it in the first draft of Weather Vane Island and my answer was to just add whatever crazy thing came to mind, eventually kneading the dough of my story into something ineditable. I ran into the same wall in my first draft of Nothing Extraordinary (a work in progress) and my solution then was to charge forward, keeping faith in my outline until my writing became a bland, programmed march to the end. I've also run into the same wall with other stories that I put into drawers, unfinished, because I didn't have the wherewithall to push through.

I've come to term this a "Mid-Book Crisis." For whatever reason, after page 50 or so, I feel like I've lost the magic of the story. It not longer speaks to me and now I've created something so lame I can't even muster the enthusiasm to ask for help fixing it.

Now that I'm rewriting this particular book as a serial, however, the Mid-Book Crisis has gained a real, external significance. I've already posted the first seven chapters - drawering the book and quietly forgetting it is not an option. The question of beginning the story is more pressing and has less of a margin for error. I need to get the ball rolling, and soon. So what should I do? More importantly, what should you do, if this is something you struggle with?

First, don't panic. Panicking justs makes things worse. When you panic, you grab the oil and throw it on the fire in a daft effort to put it out; you trip as you flee your mugger, you shoot yourself in the foot, you land in a belly flop off of the high dive; you write in all manner of ridiculous plot twists and characters, or you shut down and write something so devoid of heart that you have to start over.

Second, read your story. I'll tell you a secret: this isn't the first time I've hit this wall in Weather Vane Island. Twice now, I've rewritten chapters completely because they were meandering or flagging. I was getting blinded by minutia, losing the feeling of what made the story so exciting at the beginning. My pacing was warping. Just by re-reading what I had from beginning to end, I managed to remember what I was trying to do  with the story and my excitement returned.

Finally, if you outline, re-evaluate your outline after reading your story. This is particularly true if you're writing publicly, as I am. You may have found, upon re-reading, that you've forgotten to pick up certain plot lines you've already laid the groundwork for. You may have also found some hints at the greater story that you left in accidentally. Now, you can make sure your story is progressing not only according to the plan you laid out, but with the changes in circumstances you've written in.

I don't know if this will help you get through the middle bits of your book, only that these steps have helped me. Writing processes are very idiosyncratic so not everything works for every person.

Have you ever experienced a Mid-Book Crisis? Have you ever read someone else's? Even published books can sometimes be plagued by saggy middles! Share your experiences in the comments!