No More Banging Your Head Against Waning Inspiration

Whether you are aiming for 50,000 words written this month or you’re in the middle of your years-long writing project, middles are hard. You know when you’ve reached the middle of a writing project because your inspiration evaporates, leaving you with a desire to do anything, everything, except write. You rake the leaves, clean the house, read a book, watch TV, or play a game. Stop avoiding your writing. When inspiration wanes, there are things you can do to nudge your muse (or subconscious) and your slog will turn into a race to get the words down.

Take Time to Recharge

You’ve probably spent more time at the day-job, or taking care of the family, or writing than taking care of yourself. Recharge your body and mind and creativity. Do something physical: stretch, take a walk, garden, or play a sport. Scientific research has shown that there is a “link between exercise and creative thinking.”

Get enough sleep. Your physical health and creativity suffer when you work your brain too hard. While there are some of us get our “best ideas” when fatigued, chronic lack of sleep is a health problem. It puts you at increased risk of developing high blood pressure, type 2 Diabetes, obesity, and more. Sleep restores the brain physically, mentally, and creatively. Take a nap. 

Rest your brain with a repetitive chore that doesn’t need brain power or zone out in your favorite pastime activity.

Re-fill your creative well. Depending upon your personality and preferences, you refill your creative well when you read, listen to music, draw, visit a museum, or other inspirational activities. Madeline Le’Engle states that “playing the piano is, for me, a way of getting unstuck.”

It doesn’t have to take a long time to recharge. Experiment with doing this daily versus weekly. Even fifteen minutes of a recharging activity will help. Choose the best intervals and durations for you. But include a recharge in your schedule and then do it.

Ignore Your Inner Voice

Does your inner voice nag you with “this is no good” or “I can’t do this?” You’re not alone. Many writers suffer doubts about their skills when they reach the saggy middle of their book. Remind your inner voice that is a first draft (or whatever draft it is) and is not supposed to be perfect. That you will go back and fix it. This can be easier to do if you’ve completed other stories, but sometimes it is extremely difficult whether you are a novice or have dozens of published books. Keep doing it. Practice makes it easier no matter your experience level.

Review Story Structure

The middle is the largest portion of your story. The first half of the middle is your protagonist exploring and testing the limits of the problem. Complications and obstacles keep her from her goal. At the end of the first half of your story (which is also the first half of your story’s middle), something happens that gives the protagonist a false win or loss. It causes a change in how the protagonist views the problem and how to approach the problem during the second half of the middle. Find more about story structure in the books Story Engineering by Larry Brooks and Plot & Structure and Write Your Novel From the Middle by James Scott Bell. Or check out the resource page.

Trust Your Muse

Re-read what you’ve written. Search for hidden gems. What are hidden gems? Your muse or subconscious has seeded hints into what you’ve already written. Hints your characters give about what happens next or what they want, hints that build tension, hints on how the story world will impact your characters. Take one of those hints and make it a subplot in your middle.

Or simply journal about your novel in your own voice. Do a brain dump. Write down why you chose to write this story. Include any shoulds or should nots you have running around in your head. 

Push yourself to list a minimum of ten different things that could happen next. Include all your ideas, even the silly ones. Sometimes on second glance, the silly ones may not see so silly.

Argue with yourself why this next step will or won’t work. Your written discussion may show you the best next step. Don’t forget to complement yourself for having reached the middle. Your own words may surprise you with the answer you knew all along.

Categorize the Obstacles

What types of obstacles have you put up for your protagonist to overcome? Are they mostly physical, all mental, or heavily emotional? What type of obstacle was the last one? Mix it up. Change the type of obstacle your protagonist faces next. 

Twist the Challenge

Ask yourself what the antagonist (or any character or environment) will do to create an obstacle that forces your protagonist to change tactics. How will this obstacle increase the stakes for your protagonist? How will the antagonist change her tactics to keep the protagonist at bay?

Twist the Choice

Similar to twist the challenge, this time you ask yourself what your protagonist will do to keep the antagonist guessing. How will she force the antagonist’s next move to be one that is favorable to her? And the follow-up question: How will this fail or succeed? 

Write a Scene Sentence

This sentence gives a brief description of what your character is doing in the scene, who or what causes a complication or obstacle, and what your character does next. Find the more detailed description of the scene sentence in my post, “Create a Compelling Plot with What-But-Therefore”.

Create the Mirror

According to James Scott Bell, and others, the last half of the story should mirror the first half in a way that shows her growth. Read the first half of your story. What actions can your character take mirroring or reflecting the beginning? What couldn’t or wouldn’t your protagonist do at the beginning that she must do now? In fact, many how-to-write gurus refer to the end of the second half of the middle as the look back. Usually after a resounding defeat, the protagonist reflects on the challenge ahead with a bleak dread. (The reverse can also work.) What does your protagonist dread?

Need More Inspiration?

Several authors on the Writers in the Storm blog gave brilliant suggestions on how to change your slog into a suspense-filled ride. Read Donna Galanti’s “Building Suspense: Meet Your Readers in the Middle and They Will Come”, or “A Simple Tip to Help Get Rid of Saggy Middles” and “Panties or Protein Powder? How to Tighten a Saggy Middle” both by Fae Rowen.

Find Your Inspiration

It takes a combination of inspiration, intuition, and knowledge to create a story. Some writers focus on one or the other of these three. If that works for you, great. But all of us get stuck once in a while. If your inspiration wanes, don’t despair. There are many ways to spur your inspiration rather than just soldiering on or giving up. Be prepared. Keep a list of things to try. Experiment. Find what works for you and for this story. And write on!

What do you do when your inspiration wanes? Do you keep a list of things to try?

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