Starting in the Middle

It took me a little while to grasp the concept of starting my story in the middle. I mean the middle is in the middle, isn't it? However, the speaker of the workshop I was attending was a long time published writer, with hundreds of novels under her belt, so, I supposed I had better pay attention.

After that workshop I took a look at several novels I had written and the light bulb went on. I understood exactly what the speaker had meant. My stories were bogged down in the beginning with historical information about my plot and characters that would be better presented in another way. I was going to disclose the information as the story progressed.

In my novel Mogul, my story was bogged down in the beginning as I took my main character, Amanda, through a long journey from Pennsylvania to Tennessee. My readers were to travel with her every step of the way. Although I at first thought it was an exciting journey, I took a look at it from a different perspective and realized the trip itself was trivial, it was what happened on the journey and Amanda's feelings about it that mattered most. I decided to eliminate the trip south on paper and tell the facts that were important about the trip through Amanda's reflections later in the story.

I have had other stories where I have done much the same thing by cutting out lengthy sections of text and adding a bit of intrigue to the story as the historical facts are uncovered during the novel. This works well when no one really needs to know the facts in order for the story to move forward.

However, sometimes there is something that has happened in a character's life that has influenced them or been a huge part of why they are the person they have become. Again, there are times a little bit of information goes a long way.

In Eye of the Hurricane I reveal the main character's love not only for her children, but for the siblings they were named after. Other things happen that cause her to reflect on the loss of those siblings, and the guilt she felt because of that loss. As she deals with the guilt more of the past story is revealed.



I must add a few words of caution. Not every tidbit of historical information needs to be removed from the beginning of the story. Only you, the writer, can decide what you want to keep.

When you do decide to use other methods to make those revelations that are pertinent to the story, you should be careful not to bog your story down with flashbacks. I prefer to call them reflections, because to me a reflection is shorter than a flashback. Other methods may be through dialogue: a secret told in confidence or some sort of an interrogation. Other characters who know the history can also reveal parts of it.

There are also the tried and true dream/nightmare sequences. Again use them sparingly as they can come across as the ploy that they are. Recently I read a novel that used nightmares in a very effective way, by having each nightmare reveal just a little bit more information until the main character finally remembered the dark incident that had been causing the nightmares to begin with.

Whatever you decide, you are the writer, you are in control of your story. However, if you want the story published, you may need to take another objective look at it to decide how and where you want your story to begin. Remember, the beginning is where you grab your reader. If you bog them down with too much information and not enough plot, they just might not read past the first few pages.

As always, I wish you success and hope your writing brings you the joy mine has brought me.