Writing tips - Avoiding the Sagging Middle

Okay, you have an idea for your book, a really great idea, a fantastic love story! You start writing in a flush of enthusiasm and its all going well, until.....

...at some point you begin to feel that you are flagging, that the book is going nowhere, that it is (hushed whisper) boring.






Many, if not all writers get this at some point. I know a lot of authors who say it kicks in at around 30,000 words. Sometimes they have finished the whole book and looking back they find the middle is stodgy, They have introduced the characters, set up the scenes, but then everything seems to flounder.  This is the bit commonly known to writers as the Sagging Middle.  Let's face it, if you as the author don't like the book at this point, it's unlikely that your audience is going to enjoy it.

So, what can you do about it?  It is unlikely that you can cut the whole middle section out, after all, you need to get from A to B somehow! So here's a few tips that might just help.

Interview your characters. They are your creations, and if you have done your job well then they can help you a great deal at this point.  Are they saying/doing what is right for them? Are they being forced in directions they don't want to go?  Talk to them, ask them what they want to do (I know, I know, this may sound slightly crazy, but believe me, once you have created characters they can take on a life of their own and the most difficult thing can be keeping them in order. So if you have great characters, then interview them, ask them what is wrong.  They might just tell you.



Go back and check your overall plan.  Does is still make sense? Is it going in the right direction?   Often when we are writing, a book takes a turn that we had not anticipated and if we manhandle it back on track that may not be the way the story really should go. Be prepared to change it, if it feels forced or unnatural.




Read your manuscript as a reader. Be objective, if you can.
If you feel too close to it then perhaps you can put it aside for a while and then read it with fresh eyes. Remember, though, readers read for entertainment and pleasure, not for grammar or spelling or construction. If bits of the story don't excite you, take them out or re-write them. Make sure everything you put in adds value.  Are you adding too much information, is it slowing the story and detracting from the pleasure of reading?






Discuss your work with someone. Perhaps you have a critique partner/group,  or a fellow writer who is on the same wavelength. Ask them to read your work and comment.  However, be careful not to ask too many people, or you could get too many differing opinions!








Do something else! This is the one that appeals to me most often. It doesn't matter whether its ironing, washing up, walking the dog, shopping, gardening, or even watching TV.

Get away from your work in progress for a while. Allow the ideas to settle, ferment, evolve. Give yourself permission to think of something else and very likely your brain will continue to work on the problem in your subconscious.

So that's it.  I hope these ideas might help to get you over the point of that sagging middle.

Happy reading (and writing)

Melinda Hammond / Sarah Mallory


Published July 2016 - The Outcast's Redemption (Harlequin Historical)

An Interview with Miss Jane Austen, Author, by Monica Fairview

Jane Austen is known for her caustic and irreverent wit. I thought it might be fun to highlight some of her most famous statements by framing them in a particular way.

So today, as a special guest, I have Miss Jane Austen, who has kindly agreed to answer some of my questions about romance, her view of marriage and her writings, using her own words. I hope you will welcome her warmly.

So many people have come to love and admire Mr. Darcy, your creation. What do you think is the main attribute of the romantic hero?

There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.

In your opinion, what is the best way to win a gentleman’s heart?

In nine cases out of ten, a woman had better show more affection than she feels.

What about all the enhancements a young lady has at her disposal? All the fine Regency gowns we love so much?

It would be mortifying to the feelings of many ladies, could they be made to understand how little the heart of man is affected by what is costly or new in their attire. Woman is fine for her own satisfaction alone.

Elizabeth Bennet’s lively manners and intelligence are an important aspect of why Mr. Darcy loves her. Do you think this is true generally in romance?

A woman, especially if she has the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can. However, in justice to men, that though to the larger and more trifling part of the sex, imbecility in females is a great enhancement of their personal charms, there is a portion of them too reasonable and too well informed themselves to desire anything more in woman than ignorance. A good-looking girl, with an affectionate heart and a very ignorant mind, cannot fail of attracting a clever young man.

In Pride and Prejudice, you write about failed proposals. What do you think is the essence of a successful proposal?

Is not general incivility the very essence of love?

But Elizabeth accuses Mr. Darcy of being uncivil, yet he fails in his proposal.

Angry people are not always wise. Besides, he surprises her. Surprises are foolish things. The pleasure is not enhanced, and the inconvenience is often considerable.

You are fond of portraying selfish, self-centred people in your novels. Take Mary Elliott in Persuasion, Lady Catherine and Wickham in Pride and Prejudice, Isabella Thorpe in Northanger Abbey and many others. Yet even if they’re villains, you never condemn them fully. Why is that?

Selfishness must always be forgiven, you know, because there is no hope of a cure.

Some would even go so far as to say you favour your villains over your heroes and heroines. Would you agree that is the case?

Very possibly. I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal. Besides, pictures of perfection, as you know, make me sick and wicked.

One thing that puzzles me about your novels is how many ineffective clergymen there are in them. Even the hero of Mansfield Park Edmund Bertram succumbs easily to temptation. Why is this the case?

It will, I believe, be everywhere found, that as the clergy are or are not what they ought to be, so are the rest of the nation.

If you will permit me, Miss Austen, I would like to ask a question of a personal nature. Have you ever been in love yourself?

No. The more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love.

Do you think marriage is an important part of a lady’s identity?

It depends. It is poverty only which makes celibacy contemptible to a generous public! A single woman, with a very narrow income, must be a ridiculous, disagreeable old maid! -- the proper sport of boys and girls -- but a single woman, of good fortune, is always respectable, and may be as sensible and pleasant as anybody else. 

What do you think is the foundation of a good marriage?

Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.

Do you believe in marrying your soulmate?

There is not one in a hundred of either sex who is not taken in when they marry.

But you do have some happy relationships in your novel -- Darcy and Elizabeth, for example. What do you think is the reason for the success of their relationship?

A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.

Finally, Miss Austen, what do you think of the Romance genre?

I could not sit down to write a serious romance under any other motive than to save my life.

Thank you, Miss Austen, for your timeless words.

Tracing Jane Austen's Footsteps: Sevenoaks by Monica Fairview

Knole at  Sevenoaks

Virginia Woolf  at The Knole

I visit Sevenoaks, Kent, several times a year since I love to picnic or walk in Knole. The grounds include a deer park with an ancient herd roaming around, which, along with the rolling hills, makes for a wonderful backdrop for a meal on a pleasant summer day (if you can find a spot that doesn’t have deer droppings, that is). Knole is partly owned and inhabited by Lord Sackville and partly by the National Trust. One of its claims to fame is that it is one of England top five largest houses, with 365 rooms and 52 staircases. Another is its Elizabethan association with Robert Dudley. A third is its association with writers like Rudyard Kipling, Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West. 

Sevenoaks itself has a lovely well-preserved old town. It's well-worth a visit in and of itself but its particular interest for me is that it's associated with  several of Jane Austen’s relatives, most particularly Jane’s Uncle Francis Austen (Frank) who lived at the Red House whenever he was at Sevenoaks. Frank Austen was a lawyer and a wealthy landowner with a number of large estates in Kent and Essex. 

The Red House where Jane Austen stayed with her uncle

We know that Jane stayed with her uncle on at least one occasion, namely in 1788, when she was 12, where she met other (more privileged) members of the Austen family. It is claimed that it was during that visit her uncle commissioned Ozias Humphry to paint the Rice Portrait. John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset (residing at Knole) was particularly fond of Humphry, and Jane Austen's uncle had already had two portraits of his own commissioned from the artist.

Portrait believed to be of Jane Austen aged 12

Since much of the area around Red House has remained unchanged, it isn't too difficult to follow in the footsteps of Jane Austen during her visit. There's a plaque that names the Red House and there's also a plaque in the ground outside the house and this is the obvious starting point. 

As a twelve-year-old child she would have been eager to leave the adults to their conversation and explore the outside. She would have crossed the street and looked down into the closely clustered cottages in what was intriguingly called Six Bells Lane. Who could have resisted a lane with a name like that? Jane would probably have wanted to find out if the six bells were still there. 

I walked down the steep lane and didn’t find the bells, but found some lovely old cottages with small doors, tiny windows and unexpected corners. I even found a cottage with the address spelled out in handmade white lace. Jane would have shuddered at the many hours of work that had gone into it and thanked providence that no one had made her embroider something like this.

A pretty doorway

The path continued at an incline, leading eventually to Rectory Lane and to St. Nicholas’ Church which was built in the 13th century and featured the famous poet John Donne as its Rector in 1616 for almost twenty years. On a Sunday, of course, Jane would have attended the service there, passing the lovely medieval window as she went in. Would the duke have been in attendance, or did he only attend the private chapel at Knole House? For Jane Austen, perhaps, seeing cousins and acquaintances of her uncle may have been a reminder that she was the poor relative, the one who didn’t live in a grand house and didn’t have a large estate like many of her relations at Sevenoaks did. Or perhaps she delighted in making fun of her more prim and proper family members. She might even have been too busy thinking up her Juvenile writings to listen to the sermon. Perhaps in that very church the germ of an idea came to her that later took form as Mr. Collins. There is speculation that a village close to Sevenoaks was the model for Mr. Collins’ parish Hunsford and that Rosings was based on an estate in the area, possibly Chevening, where Jane’s cousin John became rector in 1813. It would have been a steep climb up to the Red House after the service, unless, of course, Uncle Frank had provided transportation.

When were the cottages built and named?

Just to the side of the Red House I came across a sign with captured my attention at once. A row of cottages borders the house and can be seen from the windows. Perhaps the twelve-year-old Jane looked out of the window and spotted one with an intriguing name. Look at the last name on the sign. I wonder which came first, Netherfield in Sevenoaks or Netherfield in Meryton?