I don’t mean a person’s sagging middle although that can be a problem especially as you get older and your metabolism slows down. I’m talking about getting to the middle of the book you are writing and trying to avoid the middle sagging–going too slow. What are some of the devices you use to keep your middle from sagging?
I try to resolve one of my plot points or have some major issue come to a crisis. In What the Heart Knows I had the heroine’s son who is schizophrenic run away and she and the hero had to go look for him. They find him and bring him back to get the help he needs. In A Family for Tory the hero finally discovers why Tory is so afraid of having a relationship with a man.
I find it is easier to keep a middle from sagging in an adventure/suspense book than a character driven novel. Some author once said when he feels his book is getting slow he kills someone off in the book. In my Love Inspired books (I’m not talking about the Love Inspired Suspenses because killing a character off is an option in those.) that isn’t an option. I have to look to other aspects of the story to make it keep reading at a fast pace. I want the reader to keep turning the page and not put the book down.
