How To Make Sure You Finish Your Book

Are you one of those writers that always seems to start stories, and then never quite gets to the end? Why do you think that is?

It is very common for writers to start their stories with gusto, full of excitement and adrenaline, feeling completely inspired and confident that they are about to write the next greatest novel on earth.

They get past the first few chapters, and things seem to be going well, the characters are developing nicely, the story is full of intrigue and drama.

But then, a few chapters on and you reach the dreaded middle. Suddenly you begin to run out of steam. Inspiration leaves you, your adrenaline slumps and you feel about as creative as an old potato.

Before you know it, your great story gets shoved in a draw to gather dust with all the other ones.

So what happened?

The middle of your story is the toughest part. This is where you become challenged as a writer to try and make everything work. This is where your idea will be tested; your plot needs to remain strong, your characters need to stay interesting, the action must continue to grip readers and keep them turning those pages.

If you feel yourself starting to lose enthusiasm often the best strategy is to take a little break. Stop and step back and ask yourself exactly where you want the story to go. You could even try writing the ending first. Once you know how your story will end, you can then start to make connections and figure out a path to get your characters and plot exactly where they need to be.

If your story isn’t exciting you anymore then instead of giving up you need to think of a way to revive it. Throw in a twist, kill off a major character, reveal a secret. Find a way to shock and surprise your readers, so the story continues to excite them.

Just keep writing. Sometimes the best thing to do is just to get your head down and soldier on. Accept that the middle of your story is going to drag and just get it finished. Once the whole story is down, you can go back and rip it apart and chop it up and re write it. You’ll feel so much more able to do so once the whole story is there on paper.

If all else fails to think about why you started in the first place. Try to recapture that feeling of excitement and adrenaline that you had at the beginning. Remind yourself how disappointed you were the last time you got halfway through a story and stopped. Believe in yourself and allow your story to be imperfect - you are so much more likely to make it to the end you do.

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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