Writing Archives

November 5, 2020 by Laura Resnick

Nink: You’re Not Broken ~ Be Your Own Writing Champion

This article, written by Denise Agnew is from the November 2020 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc. (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership.

Writing challenges can convince you that you’re broken. The excitement you once enjoyed creating stories feels as if it has vanished. Since Covid-19 arrived at our doors, many authors have been looking for ways to cope.

If your creativity has diminished or completely disappeared, you may think it will never come back. Take heart. Writer challenges are rarely permanent if an author explores what is happening with their particular situation.

It is easy, when you’re not feeling well and negative thoughts are threatening to keep you down in the dumps and uncreative, to throw your hands up and surrender. It is tempting to wallow and decide it’s just the way it is. Most of us have done this at one time or another, and we don’t always realize that the messages we tell ourselves are half the problem.

My challenge for you is to dig deep and to not buckle under to despair.

Discover what’s really going on

Writing challenges are different for everyone, but there are things you can consider and questions you can ask to discover the origins behind your particular situation.

Overcommitment/setting boundaries

Make a list of commitments you have in your life and see if you are shoving aside your writing in favor of doing everything else first. If you discover you’re overloading your plate, make a list of what you might trim or eliminate in order to make more time for creativity. Your sanity is worth it.
Are you volunteering in organizations you no longer enjoy? This is a tough one. Often people feel that if they’ve committed to volunteer in an organization, that they have to stick with it no matter what. I have personal experience with joining an organization and sticking with it way after the luster and enjoyment was no longer there. In 2019, I significantly scaled back my commitment when I realized I no longer enjoyed the group the way I had for the last 10 years. It freed a lot of time.
Do you feel guilty carving out writing time? Many people are family first, everything else comes second. While this can seem virtuous, there are pitfalls. You’ve heard the old saying that says if momma isn’t happy, no one is. I guarantee if you are dying to write, but have abandoned it because other people are demanding every second of your time, any subsequent dissatisfaction and depression will manifest itself in negative ways. You may give up on your writing dreams. Ask yourself if you are training other people to expect certain things of you. If you don’t carve out writing time, no one else is going to give it to you. Boundaries are important. Are your children remote schooling at home and your spouse also working at home? Are you working another full-time job at home and also trying to shoehorn in writing? If any or all of those things are in force for you right now, you may need to set new boundaries with those around you. If others don’t know that writing is still important to you, they may either encroach on your writing time either by accident or design. Decide now that your writing is important and put it on your schedule. Even if you don’t have as much room to write as you did before, dedicated space on your schedule can keep creativity alive.

Lean out of your comfort zone

Are you afraid to create in a different genre or approach your genre at a “riskier” angle? Have you told yourself it might reveal something about you that feels shameful or that other people won’t like? What are you not saying in your writing that you want to say?
Own your writing. Writers want to please the reader. Sometimes, though, writers forget that in order to be happy as writers, we have to enjoy what we do the majority of the time. If others disapprove, we have to find it within ourselves not to give their approval weight. Many writers have externalized their writing so much that everything on the outside dictates whether they are creative or not. Eventually this will backfire and the creativity dries up. Be your own champion. That means please yourself first when you write and everyone else second.

Carve out some peace

Are you worried about the state of the world? There is no doubt there are worldwide concerns overtaking space in most of our heads. Now is the time to realize that you can’t spend 100 percent of your day allowing those subjects to overwhelm, depress, and deprive you of your creativity. Feeling guilty if you aren’t thinking about writing 100 percent of the day doesn’t serve your creativity or your mental health. Find some time to switch off that outside world and refresh your body and mind creating.

Stay open to new perspectives

Our egos can get in the way. We become jaded and even sometimes proud of our cynicism. What this can do, though, is lead us to see our world in narrow parameters. We think we’ve seen it all and therefore we can’t learn anything new. Unwillingness to stretch our minds into new genres, or new ways to refresh our current genre can lead to creativity disappearing.
Be willing to listen to new craft techniques and ideas if your creativity is waning or drying up. Consider if a technique might work, and try it. If it doesn’t work for you, all is not lost. Chuck it and move on to the next.
On the opposite side, avoid using craft classes as an excuse to never write anything. There are many writers who have spent years taking craft courses and never finished a single manuscript. Recognize when it is time to put those courses to the test by writing and finishing something.
Write what you don’t know. One way to branch out in creativity is to decide it is okay to write what you don’t know and research it. If you’ve always wanted to write about a subject or situation you haven’t experienced, go for it. There’s nothing stopping you but the willingness to stay open. Being curious and researching can energize your creativity and excitement for a project.

Recognize your own power

You’ve got great ideas. Somewhere along the way, though, you may have convinced yourself you don’t. For some people, this stems from long-held self-esteem issues. If you think self-esteem issues are getting in the way of your creativity, it might be time to discuss them with a mental health professional who can help you navigate those waters.
You’re not alone. Too often writers believe that everyone is creating like gangbusters but they aren’t. Take heart. Most writers who’ve been in this business a long time have encountered bumps along the way. Recognize that writer’s block doesn’t form because you’re a bad writer. Many famous authors have complained about writing difficulties over the course of their careers. You’re in great company.

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Denise A. Agnew is the award-winning author and screenwriter of over 69 novels and several optioned screenplays and television series. She’s written in a variety of genres including horror, romance and historical. Over the years she’s also enjoyed participating in archaeology and archery. Reading is a huge love! She was fortunate enough to live in England and Hawaii and travel throughout the UK and Ireland. Denise is also a producer, paranormal investigator, Certified Creativity Coach, Reiki Master, and evidential medium. She lives in Arizona with her husband and a mini schnauzer. You can find her at www.deniseagnew.com and www.agnewcreativemedium.com.

October 20, 2020 by Laura Resnick

Nink: More Ways to Stay Creative

This article, written by Denise Agnew is from the October 2020 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc. (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership.

Even as a creativity coach, I can have days where I’m not feeling as creative as I would like. This led me to think of other ways I could boost my creativity. Based on what I discovered, I’ve listed more ways you can boost your creativity quotient.

Open up to random thoughts
Writers can sometimes unknowingly stifle their creativity. Remember when you were a kid and someone told you to stop daydreaming? You may be doing something similar to yourself and not realizing it. What if paying closer attention to your random thoughts and fantasies could generate fresh ideas?

We’ve all heard that we have a ton of thoughts pass through our minds each day, much of it useless chatter. As published authors, we often judge both the quality of our ideas and the validity of them. However, as creative people, our imaginations are an integral part of our ability to create story. Many writers who work on building book series have told me they sometimes feel as if they’re on an assembly line churning out the same ole same ole. This adherence to “expected” series parameters can be draining and can strangle creativity. Instead of allowing your imagination to go where it wants, you’re forcing it to go where you think it is supposed to go.

Granted, you can’t stop and write down every single thought or fantasy you have in your head, and you can’t necessarily take your series from the Wild West to outer space (well, maybe you can), but you can harness as many ideas as possible. Are there any story ideas you are dying to write but you’re ignoring them? Do you think the ideas are too far out of the lane you’ve been following for years? Consider how you can write more of what you long to write rather than constantly shoving down your creative desires.

Write down any wild thoughts that come into your head, even if they don’t seem to equate to an actual plot or story line at this time and even if they are completely nonsensical. If you remember your dreams, write them down as well. You never know where these ideas will lead in the future.

Imagine you’re somewhere else
Because of the pandemic, many writers haven’t been on vacation, much less left the house. So let your mind take you.

Find a quiet time where you won’t be disturbed. Put on soothing music. Close your eyes and imagine, in as much detail as possible, a place you long to be. This can be a place you’ve been to before or a new place you would like to visit.

If you want, write down as many details about that vacation fantasy as you can. Go hog wild and enjoy yourself. Why not? Not only is it fun, but you might even get an idea for a story in the process.

Watch more movies and television series
Many people proudly announce that they don’t watch television series or movies. Watching television rots your brain, right? While anything taken to an extreme could have a negative effect, TV and movies can give your brain a mental break. You can also use this time to analyze why you like or don’t like some movies and television programs. This can provide perspective into your own creativity and spark new ideas.

Start with the genre you write. Watch a few movies in that genre. How would you have written the story? If there’s a movie or television series you love, why do you love it? Be completely honest with yourself why you like it (or how you would have done it better). You aren’t showing your innermost thoughts to anyone else. Thinking about why you like or don’t like something can move your creative thinking in a new direction.

In this way, watching a movie or television series is like reading someone else’s book and recognizing why you enjoyed the book or would’ve written it differently. This perspective change can jumpstart the creative part of your brain.

Read screenplays and write screenplays
Writing a screenplay is, in many ways, completely different than writing a novel; it forces you to create differently. When writing a screenplay, a writer relies far more on dialogue and very little on description. It gives your brain a creative workout. How are you going to say, in the dialogue, what you may have left up to description alone?

When I decided to begin writing screenplays, I first read a few to obtain both an understanding of formatting and to get a general feel of how screenplays sound. (Beware, though. Screenwriting formatting has changed over the years, so modern screenplays have some different rules than screenplays written even a decade ago.) Reading and writing screenplays opens your mind to a different way of experiencing storytelling.

Make memes/graphics
Is there something you want to say? Making a meme in a program such as Canva or Book Brush can be a great way to enhance your social media presence and express yourself creatively. Making graphics requires both visuals and the words you want to say. If I want to take a break from writing, I often make a meme or a graphic for one of my published or soon-to-be-published books or some other random thing I want to express. It’s refreshing. After I’ve made a graphic, I am ready to start writing again.

Do nothing for fifteen minutes
I know what you’re going to say. “Denise, I have a busy life and don’t have 15 minutes to spare.” To that I would say, “Are you sure?”

While sitting in relative quiet outside among nature or inside with some soothing music or even no sound can make some people feel twitchy, it’s about balance. As an experiment, to see if it works for you, try doing absolutely nothing for 15 minutes a day for a least three days and see how you feel. The 15 minutes does not need to be formal meditation. Write down how you felt and if you received any creative ideas during that time. My guess is you will not only get ideas, you might feel physically and mentally refreshed because you’re not pushing so hard all the time.

Connect (even just virtually) with others
This pandemic has kept many of us inside, including missing NINC. Is there a dear friend, writer or not, who you used to sit down with in person and hash over creative issues? If you haven’t talked to them in ages, give them a call or set up a Skype or visual chat session. They’ll love it, you will too, and the creative ideas you generate could be some of the best you’ve ever designed.

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September 20, 2020 by Laura Resnick

Nink: The Devil Is In the Detail ~ The Details That Can Undermine Your Carefully Constructed Characters

This article by Joanne Grant is from the September 2020 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc. (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership.

Excellent characterization is the backbone to every good story. So much goes into creating believable, three-dimensional strong characters—solid back stories, clear motivations, compelling conflicts and vivid physical descriptions—but small details can be the undoing of all that good work. A misplaced ‘out of character’ moment or action can take the reader out the story, undermine the consistency of the character, and shake the foundations of believability.

To ensure that your characters are as real and unique to the reader as they are to you, in this article I’ll highlight three key areas of mindfulness when writing and self-editing your work.

Out of character behavior

This seems like an obvious one, but I’m not talking about the fun out of character behaviors that demonstrate there’s been a key shift in character development. As long as the behavior is well-motivated, the reader will love these moments as they are often the key turning points for the story—you’ve been building to them, the reader understands them and revels in the character’s unusual behavior.

Instead, it’s the small, inconsistent details that can stand out to the reader and slowly chip away at their confidence in the character, and in turn the story. Here are some examples:

She is an edgy, top of her game businesswoman—but she leaves a meeting because she is about to cry
He only drinks black coffee for breakfast—but complains later he is hungry because he skipped breakfast
She’s never even been kissed—but is suddenly a sex kitten in the bedroom displaying a surprisingly encyclopedic knowledge of the Karma Sutra!

In each of these examples, the intention of this behavior may be to further the plot. If this is the case—as always—motivation is key! But if you can’t realistically motivate them to behave in this way, or there was no specific intent behind the behavior—the inconsistency should be eliminated.

Let’s take each example in turn:

You want to demonstrate that your steely businesswoman is so emotionally affected by this meeting she cries, so show why she has been moved to this extreme! But if her tears are not integral to the plot—the intention is just to show that the meeting has got to her—think about how she would react that is more in keeping with her character.
For our coffee drinking hero—this could just be a slip of continuity—if he never has breakfast, he can never miss it, so clear up this inconsistency. Believe me, readers do notice these things!
As for our sex kitten—on reflection you may realize you’ve written a sexually confident heroine because this is what comes naturally to you. Either give a realistic reason how she can be so knowledgeable (has she literally studied the Karma Sutra?!) or, re-write the scene with your inexperienced heroine in mind. But if her being a virgin isn’t integral to the plot, you may want to question whether the virgin heroine trope is right for you at all.

Out of character language

It takes time to develop and find your own author voice; however, once you do, it becomes your anchor for your readers who will want return to you time and time again. But when it comes to creating character voice—how can you make sure that their voice and the language they use is distinct from your voice and that of other characters? After all, this character came from you and whether you intend it or not and they may just accidentally share some of your verbal quirks.

Here are some examples where character language can trip you up:

Colloquial phrases: they hold meaning to you—based on your background and experiences—but probably have no place in your characters’ vocabulary based on their background.
Age appropriate phrases: using dated/old-fashioned phrases or too contemporary phrases for your character’s age can really jar and make readers’ question the authenticity of the character.
Culturally dissonant words/phrases: some phrases just do not translate across cultures even across shared languages, such as English. For example, Americanisms slipping into a British character’s vernacular and vice verso.

Just like a child learns from parents, and how close friends can pick-up certain phrases from each other and adopt them as their own—so can your characters—either from yourself or from other characters! This can happen in both thought and dialogue.

Being aware of this should help you spot any of these moments, and a helpful tip is to read your work out loud—or get someone else to read it to you—and carefully visualize your character as you do so. Can you picture your cultured, buttoned-up politician swearing like a trooper and complaining about the latest football scores, or a billionaire businessman exclaiming "oh, my goodness?"

Out of character physical movements

Human communication is heavily reliant on non-verbal cues. Even though studies cannot agree on what percentage is verbal vs non-verbal, the consensus is that most of communication is non-verbal. If you know your characters inside out, you should be able to imagine how they move their body not just to get around, but to also communicate.

How do they walk, how much do they use their hands to express themselves and what about their facial expressions? Now check in on how you have described your characters physically moving about – does it match with their traits, such as age, physical ability, but also their personality? How does it match-up with their communication style?

Let’s look at some examples:

Your hero is in his thirties, a successful man who is fit and strong—do you think he would ever "wander" or "amble" into a room—or is he more likely to stride purposefully?
Your heroine is described as warm, friendly and open—but we rarely see her smile, or make physical contact with others, such as a hand on an arm, or a sympathetic look.
Your character is very prim and proper—would they use their hands to enthusiastically "hand talk" when they speak?

When it comes to physical movements, inconsistent or even lack of description, can undermine a character. Whereas, a little bit of detail here, can go a long way to adding a deeper dimension to your character and really bringing them off the page for your reader.

In conclusion, even when you think you’ve got the big stuff nailed down for your characters the details and trip you up. Here some final thoughts on why is this and what can you do about it:

You don’t know your character as well as you thought—you need to spend some more time getting to know them!
You are writing against type and/or experience—you may need to consider whether this character is someone you can do justice to. More research into your character type is required to make sure they sound, act and behave authentically. Watch videos, documentaries, or better still—meet real-life people!
You’re subconsciously writing too much of yourself or the people you know in real-life into your characters because that’s what you know! Once you become aware you could be doing this, you open yourself up to see spot it happening.

"You must know your character as you know yourself" is a phrase I must’ve repeated hundreds of times over the years and it is worth repeating again here. And if you really know your characters, and pay attention to the details, your reader will thank you!

________________________

Joanne Grant is an editorial coach with over 16 years of editorial expertise working for the global bestselling publisher Harlequin. Joanne has edited hundreds of romance novels over the years and understands how to coach authors of all genres to deliver their best work. If you’re interested in finding out how she can help you achieve your writing goals, get in touch – Joanne loves to chat! You can find Joanne on Twitter @JoanneMGrant and Facebook at JoanneGrantEditorialCoach.

August 20, 2020 by Laura Resnick

Nink: Journaling & Creating A Benevolent Self

This article, written by Denise Agnew is from the August 2020 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc. (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership.

Being a creative person, you may have found that the pandemic has enhanced negative self-talk or perhaps created issues with completing deadlines or writing at all. We can forgive ourselves for feeling rocky when our world is downright crazy.

That being said, creative people tend to be hard on themselves all the time. We dredge up perceived faults we have against our creative abilities one after the other and beat ourselves bloody.

What if you could call on a benevolent and confident self (call it future self if you like) to get you through any negative self-talk? What if you could journal your way from negative thinking that tanks your creativity toward an encouraging and confident self that uplifts your creativity?

If you’ve journaled before, take a quick peek at it. Did you fill it with a plethora of negative highlights, such as what didn’t go right, your judgements and grievances with yourself and others? Journaling like this might relieve the pressure, and in many cases it can free up your creativity. In Julia Cameron’s Artist’s Way, she encourages writers to start their morning with stream of consciousness writing. The idea is to get down all of your gunk, good or otherwise and without censoring or holding back. Many writers have gained perspective and benefit from this technique. The process of letting it all out can open our eyes.

For some writers, journaling what isn’t working for them is enough. Often the barriers we place on our writing abilities come from childhood experiences or other situations through life where something went wrong. Getting it out helps, as we assume that the same type of negative thing will occur again and sometimes it does, but we can be better prepared.

However, beyond that is our own internal thought process where, if we focus on the negatives, we often then only see the negatives in our writing, and we repeat negative patterns and belief systems in an endless cycle. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. We say we can’t. So we don’t.

To reverse this, we should step into our power and create a benevolent self that can flip the negative thinking. One way to do this is journaling.

If you don’t already have a journal, now is the time to grab one specific for this assignment. Don’t reuse one. Go find one that appeals to you in color/fabric/material and paper. Use a favorite pen or buy a new one to use just for this journal. This can pump up your enthusiasm to stick with it.

Journal Prompts

Below are journal prompts designed to open your mind to new creative possibilities. Take as much time and pages needed to thoroughly explore each of these possibilities and questions.

What negative things do you tell yourself most frequently about your writing abilities? This can apply to other things that have nothing to do with writing, but for the purposes of clarity, let’s stick with writing for the moment.
Are there similarities between each negative thing?
Where and when did you get these ideas about your writing abilities? Don’t be shy. Lay it all out here. You may not have taken much time to think about these things before, so don’t be surprised if it takes a while to pinpoint them.
What are the patterns you see between each? Are they things someone else told you about your writing or things you assumed entirely on your own?

Clearing Things Up

Now that you have some idea of the negative beliefs about your writing that bother you, let’s work on the one that bothers you the most. Of the negative things you’ve listed, is there one that sticks out to you as the most painful? Highlight that. Then you will ask, is it actually true? How do you know it isn’t true? Would you say this to a close friend?

Now that you’ve highlighted the one negative, let’s analyze the truth of it. Let’s work through the process using this example: I can’t write at all.

With the highlighted negative thing you’ve told yourself, answer the following question:

Is it actually true?

No it isn’t true that I can’t write.

How do you know it isn’t true?

Because I have written and published 10 books.

(Don’t start ruminating on how many reviews you don’t have or how much money you aren’t making right now. Neither of these things is a reflection on the quality of your writing.)

Would you say these things to a close friend?

No, I wouldn’t. In fact, I think it is horrible to say to my friend that she can’t write, because it isn’t true. I’d be angry at anyone for saying this to my friend.

When it is apparent that your negative belief is most likely not true and why, it can help you attack each negative belief you have with regard to your creativity.

Go back through each negative you wrote and ask/answer the questions for each one. Is it actually true? How do you know it isn’t true? Would you say these things to a friend?

Discover Your Benevolent Self

Now there is one more step to take, which is to take the negative things that bothered you and shift this thinking. What would a benevolent, loving self say to you? Basically, turn that negative into a positive.

Example: I can’t write at all.

Benevolent self: I am a talented writer with many stories to tell. I’m particularly good at telling XYZ type of stories.

Example: I can’t write historical fiction because it is hard to write and I was never any good at research.

Benevolent self: I love reading historical non-fiction. It fascinates me. Knowing that, I’d find reading research on the time period I want to write extremely interesting. I can research the time period(s) and facts I find intriguing with ease.

If you have difficulty getting to an uplifting statement, go for a middle ground that is neutral such as, “I enjoy writing stories. XYZ stories intrigue me the most.” This neutral ground points out to you that you enjoy writing and what you want to write, which is more encouraging and not a negative.

________________________

Denise A. Agnew is the award-winning author of over 69 novels and screenplays. Denise’s novels Love from The Ashes and Blackout were optioned for film/TV by Where’s Lucy? Productions, Bright Frontier Films and MDR Entertainment. Denise is a Writer/Producer (Where’s Lucy? Productions, Happy Catastrophe Productions, Bright Frontier Films), a paranormal investigator, Reiki Master, and Certified Creativity Coach. As a creativity coach, Denise assists anyone in the creative arts to maintain lifelong creativity. You can find her at www.deniseagnew.com and www.creativepencoaching.com.

July 5, 2020 by Laura Resnick

Nink: Maintaining Momentum ~ How To Avoid the Dreaded Saggy Middle!

This article by Joanne Grant is from the July 2020 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc. (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership.

An impactful opening will hook your reader and quite rightly, there is a lot of emphasis placed on writers to get those first chapters right. And then there’s your ending. If you’ve done a great job, your ending will leave your reader feeling great about the time they’ve spent with your characters and are more likely to come back for more of your stories.

But what about everything in-between?

Whatever genre you’re writing, whatever the word count, there’s a lot of “in-between” that has to be just as engaging and memorable. After all, what’s the point of that fantastic finale if few readers make it there! But I know that writers can struggle to maintain momentum through the mid-section and are in danger of developing a saggy middle.

In this article I will focus on the often-overlooked middle by highlighting common symptoms and causes, and then suggest some toning exercises.

What does a saggy middle look like?

As a reader, you know when you’re in saggy territory because you find yourself losing interest, skimming the pages, in short – you’re bored! This could be because:

There’s nothing really happening – it’s all a bit dull
Or there’s lots happening! It’s all action and excitement, yet … it leaves you feeling flat
The narrative is confused, repetitious or waffley

What is going on? The chances are — not a lot. And there sits the problem. You’re wading through a sludge of filler because nothing significant is happening to move the story forward in an engaging, meaningful way. This is key:

Every scene, within every chapter, should be moving the story forward. Whether through plot, character motivation, emotions, conflicts, character development — something should be shifting, moving, propelling the reader through.

Without this forward-moving momentum, the pace will stall, your middle will sag, and readers will start to lose interest.

You know what sagging middles feel like as a reader, but how can you recognize it as a writer? Or when you feel like it might be sagging but aren’t sure? First, let’s identify whether your mid-section is in trouble.

Signs you’re developing a saggy middle

You’ve lost interest in writing your current story. In fact, your head may be half-way into a different story. If you’re bored, your reader will be too!
Your writing feels mechanical, you’re losing your natural voice and spark, and everything you write seems to lack the energy you created in the opening.
You find yourself checking your word count every half an hour (or more!), willing it to have magically shot up a few thousand so you can move on to the next exciting part of the story.
Your characters are repeating themselves — in actions, thoughts or conversations. In fact, they have run out of new things to say to each other!
You find yourself describing the mundane. It may be real life, but it probably isn’t that interesting to read.
You throw in some action — another sex scene, another fight — because, it’s exciting … isn’t it?

Does any of this sound familiar? If so, your writing is displaying some of the symptoms of a saggy middle, but the good news is that there are ways you can tone it up!

Two exercises to tone up the middle

Scene by scene analysis

We’ve established that every scene should be moving something along, so a good place to start is by looking scene by scene and asking: what purpose does this scene serve? Here are some elements to focus on:

Characters: What have you learned about them? Have you revealed anything new to the reader, to another character or even to themselves? What has changed within them, or is the aim to show that they haven’t/can’t change?
Emotion: Have the emotional stakes shifted? Have emotions changed in the scene — from hopeful to anxious; from insecure to content; from in love to feeling betrayed?
Conflicts: Check your conflicts. If you haven’t noted a change in the above two points, it is likely your characters have stalled in their development and character arc: perhaps conflicts have been resolved too soon. This could also signal that the conflicts are simply not strong enough to sustain the story.
Plot: What is happening in the external action of the story — has the plot progressed?
Repetition: Is there any repetition of information, action, behavior from what has come before? Question whether the repetition is necessary — to emphasize a point, flag it as important to the reader — or is it just repetition with no purpose?

If you consider each of these elements and nothing has shifted from the beginning of the scene to the end of the scene in a meaningful way – then your scene is contributing to the sag, it is just filler dragging down the pace. However, just a note on some of those calmer scenes.

You may have a scene where everything is seemingly static and you can’t decide if it should stay. A moment of calm in the story can be a welcome moment of relief – it provides a sense that everything is going to be fine after all. Such scenes have much more impact if the scene that follows has high drama, this becomes the purpose of the calm scene. The trick is not to linger too long in the calm otherwise the pace will drop. And it never hurts to plant a seed of doubt that all is not well to propel the reader on.

Identifying where the sag began

It is often not the middle’s fault that it lacks tone – it really does get a bad reputation! Instead, the problem likely originated elsewhere so it’s important to detect exactly where:

Look at the chapters that came before. It may be that your opening doesn’t have such strong foundations after all. What threads did you start that need continuing, what has been resolved too soon, or even forgotten about? Revisit your early chapters and check that your scenes have purpose here too.
Think about your ending. You might find that you are meandering through the middle of the story because you’re not quite sure where you’re going, or how you are going to get to the end. This may be the time to focus on your story outline and synopsis to make sure you are heading forward with purpose.

Now on to the painful point…

Sharpen those editing tools!

You’ve identified which scenes have purpose and which don’t and where the problem originates from, so it’s time to get editing, and you may need to get brutal! No one said this was going to be easy…

Work on your saggy scenes to ensure there is purpose: that it links to the what has gone before and pushes forward to what is about to happen.
Once you’ve made sure that your scene has purpose, check it for any unnecessary description, exposition, repetition — basically cut the waffle! We’re trying to tone that middle, not hide all that great work under layers of padding.
Adding purpose is not the same as an information dump! If you have a lot of information that needs to be shared by the mid-point, make sure those crumbs are dropping in sparingly before you get there.
Sometimes a saggy scene can’t be toned up. You need to be objective and honest. Even if you like the scene, if it isn’t doing your story justice, it’s time to let it go. This could be mean losing a whole scene — it’s time for the chop!

And now breathe… How are you feeling after your workout? I hope you are feeling much more confident about how to tone up the middle of your story and have recognized that it deserves to be lavished with the same love and attention as the opening and ending.

Now, someone pass the cookies – I think I’ve earned one!

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