Greetings from the mess that is my current works in progress! Both projects have been in shambles all across my living room floor and picking up the pieces has taken some creativity, patience and serious elbow grease.
I wrote about the struggle that is my graphic novel here, but today I thought I'd share how fares the mess that is my middle grade project.
At least it was a mess. As of a few days ago, my story might as well have been globs of snot on top of soggy garbage resting in a bin of procrastination and self loathing.
It’s been that way for months. My middle grade novel was adrift, the main character confused and rudderless - she'd lost her direction and motivation and I wasn't at all sure why. I'd read and re-read what I'd written and then I would go away, thinking and coming up against a brick wall.
And of course this was the case. I was in the middle of the book. If you don’t know - the middle of the book is notorious for having everything go off the rails. That’s why they call it messy. Whether you are a meticulous planner or a devil-may-care pantser, the middle almost always gives a writer grief. And so it was with mine. My outline had been abandoned long ago (the reason for which can mostly be attributed to the fact that I lost a bunch of the index cards I wrote it on), characters I never planned for turned up uninvited, and my main character didn’t seem to have any motivation.
So I decided it was time to bust out my notebook and my draft and my sparkly fountain pen (sparkles are an important part of the process) and get to work on what I have decided to call my Callback List. Basically, I wanted to go through everything I had written up to that point, reading as a reader would. And make note of every instance that sounds like it might be important later (whether I intended that or not). I was looking for those moments, those sentences, those vibes that stick. Moments from early on that, when they reader is in the late action of the story, they recall right away. A callback moment. As an example, in Toy Story, after Buzz impresss the room with is flying, Woody says, "That wasn't flying, that was falling with style" and then in the climax, Woody exclaims, "Buzz, you're flying!" Buzz says wryly, "This isn't flying, this is just falling with style." That’s a simple example. Callback moments can be way more subtle, and quiet, or they can be much louder/consequential, but you get the general idea. Moments from the first pages, that the reader calls up from their memory to understand what’s happening in the later pages. Every time I found a moment that I thought could be a call back moment, I wrote it down and made a note about why I thought it was a call back moment.
Reader, this was hugely helpful in reacquainting myself with the main focus of the story, of the characters, of the central themes. I unearthed so many moments where it was clear my past self was putting it in there as a set up to pay off later. I also found so many moments that I had no intentions for when they were written but realized now, it could be very impactful later. I also discovered moments I had lined up to pay off, that were no longer really relevant to the story.
I know how this sounds - it sounds like I hadn’t read back what I’d written before. But I promise you, I’d re-read these early pages multiple times. It wasn’t until I had a specific task - finding callback moments - that I was able to figure out exactly where and how to get the story back on the rails.
Anyway! That was my big leap forward this month. So if you’re finding yourself in the messy middle and looking to take stock and get back on the rails, grab a pen and paper and try finding your callback moments!
How do you get through the messy middle?
Doodle
What I’m Working On
I had a great time at OLA last week, meeting and chatting with librarians and readers, running into writer friends and I even got a special tote from TD Summer Reading Club because Bears was in the program last summer!
I am full steam ahead on my graphic novel proposal, but I’m also dusting off an old picture book project that has been living on the shelf for the past couple years. I am finally tackling it - I’m even going to attempt a dummy! So we’ll see how that goes.
I’m also putting together a notebook tour for paid subscribers for our Feb 1st post! We’ll be looking at my story notebooks and how I use doodles and notes to support a project.
What I’m Reading
The Witch King by Martha Wells. This book is weird in all the best ways. I just started it and am having a hard time putting it down.
Stacks to Share
Speaking of book dummies! Lucky for me,
wrote about making one here!This one from
sent me scrambling to become a paid subscriber to all my favorite journalists.And this was a fascinating post from
full of publishing shenanigans that I highly recommend.
I recently listened to James Scott Bell audiobook “Write your novel from the middle”. Is a short great way to start organizing your thoughts specially if you are like me who just gets an idea for a scene and then starts finding more and more scenes that happen in the novel.
It’s not just me!
Everything I’ve written lately has been stuck in the middle. Thank you so much for sharing a method of getting unstuck! I’m going to try it out.