Wednesday, April 15, 2015

The sometimes squishy middle


I’m closing in on something I’ve only down once before—finishing the middle book of a trilogy. (And the one I did will most likely be gutted due to massive planned changes in book one, but that’s a tale for another blog a year or two down the line ;)).

Thing is, I am writing the dreaded “squishy middle book”. Sort of like the middle movie in a beloved trilogy, you’re excited for it, but you’re afraid maybe it will just be space filer until the action of the third installment.

Let’s face it, the middle segments in a series are their own special pain in the ass. And it’s not really their fault, they’re surrounded by heavy hitters. The excitement of book one—a new world, new characters, new everything!  It builds a rising tension that while partially resolved at its end, also leaves some big dangling threads for readers to wonder about and stew over while waiting for book two.

On the other side the poor middle book  has the final book of the trilogy. Usually more massive in scope, with battles, confrontations, and story endings.

Those are two pretty serious siblings the poor middle child has to deal with! The middle has to try and develop some of the plot points from book one, work in new ones, give lots of good juicy bits for its own sake, but also build in some new trails for book three.

And it needs to not sag.

I will say I am really enjoying book two, it’s probably about 96% done at this point in a linear book fashion, but I already know where I will be going back in and weaving stronger sub-plots of its very own.  I am a pantser—aka make stuff up as I go along with a final goal for that book in my head.  But since I also had the trilogy goal in my head, I may have gone a bit light on the sub-plots.

But it is difficult balancing what happened in book one and what will happen in book two. Walking that fine line of keeping things exciting, but not letting too many secrets out of the bag ;).


How do you feel about the middle book children? As a reader, what are your favs? As a writer, any tips? ;).

7 comments:

  1. I actually really enjoyed writing the second book in my trilogy (which I think is gonna turn into four...a quadrilogy?) because after all the world-building and set up of the first book, I finally got to really 'play' with my characters. Maybe it helps I introduced a new character in the second book I really liked, too.

    I agree though, you have to make sure it doesn't sag, or drag, or hang. I'm a pantser too, so I only have vague ideas of where I need to end up in the third book and what I need to resolve.

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    1. That's a good point, Megan! We do get more play time with our folks than we do in book one :). I'm enjoying it, I just feel like I'm having to watch the balancing more ;).

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  2. Yikes! I'm planning a five sister story...five books??? Is #3 the squishy middle or do 2 and 4 take on some of that honor?
    I find sometimes the middle is my favorite book, depending on the characters.

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    1. LOL! You may have a three book middle, Mona!


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  3. The Empire Strikes Back was my favorite of the original Star Wars Trilogies.
    World building shouldn't end with the first book, that book's climax should have changed the story world in some way, for better or worse. A villain should have been vanquished in that climax and a new one needs to take his place. If he wasn't vanquished but only suffered a setback, then he needs to do some serious work to regain his hold on things, take revenge, replenish his minions, those sorts of things. All of that needs to happen in book two. Lots of possibilities.

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    1. See, I was always a first movie fan for Star Wars. I enjoyed the others a lot, but the first one held the magic for me :). I agree, every book, no matter how many need to change the characters, even if it may or may not make a global impact (it changes the character's world view ;)).


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  4. The Harry Potter series did pretty well with the middle books. Heck, until we got to the fifth book, most of them could have been standalones.

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