Author KL Adams

The middle of a novel is where most writers quietly give up — not with a dramatic declaration, but with a slow, guilty drift away from the manuscript.

I know this place well. I’ve opened more half-finished documents than I care to count, each one carrying the ghost of an idea I was once wildly excited about. The premise was there. The characters had names, habits, secrets. But somewhere around the 20,000-word mark, the whole thing started to feel hollow, like I’d forgotten why I cared. Sound familiar?

The messy middle isn’t a sign that you’ve chosen the wrong story. It’s a sign that you’re actually writing one. Here are five strategies that have helped me push through — and finish what I started.

1. Know What Your Characters Want (And Why They Can’t Have It Yet)

The middle drags when your characters are just reacting to plot instead of driving it. Take a step back and write down each main character’s deepest desire — not their surface goal, but the need underneath it. Then write down what’s standing in their way, internally and externally. When you’re clear on that tension, the scenes almost generate themselves. Every chapter becomes a small battle over what they want but can’t quite reach.

2. Plant a Complication Every 2,000 Words

This is the most practical piece of craft advice I ever received, and I resisted it for years because it sounded too mechanical. It isn’t. Think of it as a rhythm check. If you’ve gone 2,000 words without a new complication — a revelation, a betrayal, an unexpected arrival, a door slamming shut — your story is coasting. Readers feel that coasting even when they can’t name it. Give them something to stumble over, and they’ll keep turning pages to find their footing.

3. Write Toward a Scene, Not a Chapter

When the middle feels endless, stop thinking in chapters. Instead, identify the next scene you’re genuinely excited to write — maybe it’s a confrontation, a quiet moment of grief, a kiss that changes everything — and aim for that. Give yourself permission to skip ahead and write it out of order if you need to. You can fill in the connective tissue later. The point is to keep your emotional investment alive.

4. Interview Your Characters on the Page

This sounds strange, but try it: open a blank document and have a conversation with a character who’s giving you trouble. Ask them what they’re afraid of. Ask them what they’re not telling you. Write their answers in their voice, without censoring. More times than I can count, a character has revealed something in these informal chats that completely unlocked a stuck chapter. Your subconscious already knows where the story wants to go — sometimes you just need to ask.

5. Give Yourself Permission to Write It Badly

Perfectionism is the engine of the messy middle. We stall because we’re trying to get it right on the first pass, and the gap between what we imagined and what we’re producing feels unbearable. Here’s the honest truth: a rough draft is supposed to be rough. Write the ugly version. Write the clunky dialogue and the over-explained emotion and the scene that doesn’t quite work. You cannot edit a blank page, but you can absolutely transform a bad one.

The messy middle is not a wall. It’s a passage — and the writers who finish their books are simply the ones who kept walking through it, one imperfect scene at a time.

I’m rooting for you and your story.

Tell me in the comments: what’s your go-to strategy when you hit the middle slump? I’d love to know what keeps you writing when the momentum dips.