All right, NaNers, today's word count goal is 16,666 words. That's a big chunk of change. That also means we're a third of the way into our novel projects.
The first third, for those who are into basic storytelling diagrams equals The Beginning of your story. By now a reader should be able to identify the main character(s), know what it is they are trying to achieve, know where they are, and be rooting for them to succeed in their goal.
This also means by today (or yesterday, or tomorrow, roughly), your story should be taking a turn into the realm of The Middle. You should be starting to see some heavy action or plot twists going on, some momentum should be building toward something, and your main character(s) should be starting to see either flaws in their plan or be hitting road blocks which are preventing them from reaching their goals.
The Middle is the sweet spot of a lot of novels. If the world you've created and the characters you're writing are interesting and intriguing, then a reader can truly fall in love with your work in this area of Middle. A reader will go along for the ride, take the twists and turns, and be excited when they have time to stay up at night turning the pages, hitting the end of a chapter, and continuing to read even though they're exhausted and have to work in the morning. The Middle is purely captivating.
So, if you're finding yourself still in Introductionland, then I'm telling you now to turn the corner and start letting heavier action take place. If you think the reader still needs to know X, Y, Z before you move forward, then you'd better learn to sprinkle that information in with the action or your reader is going to get bored from exposition without tension, or drama, or shifts in the story.
The good news: you're the author of this story. If there aren't twists or tension in the near future for your story by now, then it's your job to create them.
What's been the biggest surprise in your story so far?
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