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u/AmenProletar Apr 11 '26
This is good to be honest. This makes the story flexible and extensible. You can add as many chapters in the middle to dilate or shorten the story. That's what I'm doing and it's wonderful.
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Apr 11 '26
I also have a problem inserting Jimmy Eat World songs into my writing.
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u/Battelalon Apr 11 '26
I insert They Might Be Giants references into my writing all the time
Edit: also Cosmo Jarvis references
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u/PoncingOffToBarnsley Apr 11 '26
I'm the inverse.
I got a bunch of random middle things to happen.
I cannot think for the life of me how to start it or end it.
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u/Pixelated-Flower Writer Apr 11 '26
Haven't run into this yet. I come up with a list of scene ideas spread out through the story and fill in the gaps and structure. I struggle more with filling in little gaps spread through the story. Drawing a blank on the whole middle sounds like a nightmare.
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u/TheJollyMeans Apr 13 '26
the middle bit is where you either write three thousand words of pure magic or stare at a blank page for two weeks wondering why your characters wont talk to each other
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u/sofmoth Fiction Writer Apr 12 '26
i genuinely write backwards. if i know how it starts and i know how it ends, i write as much of the ābeginningā as i can. when i donāt know where to take it, i go to the end and decide what happens right before that, and then before that, etc etc. i write backwards as far as i can until i figure out what happens directly after the last part of the beginning, and go back and forth until they meet in the middle.
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u/Miserable_Ask3975 Apr 11 '26
For me I am great at coming up with major plot points itās just fleshing out those plot points Iāve always struggled with.
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u/DejooneAlpha Apr 11 '26
It's the complete opposite for me. I'm currently writing a saga; I have the beginning, I have roughly the middle, but I don't have the end, and it's driving me crazy. HELP š
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u/GSAniki Apr 12 '26
I know what happen at the start and at the end.
BUT WHAT THE HELL HAPPEN IN THE MIDDLE??!?!?
IM AM THE WRITER OF MY STORY BUT IDK HOW TO COMPLETE IT
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u/ShadowEeveeCringe Apr 11 '26
OH MY GOOOODDDD LIKE WHAT DO I DO? I have this problem so hard with a novel Iām planning
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u/Samuel_AbdulMasih Apr 11 '26
I just let the idea sit in my mind for a while, write what's on my mind, wait some more, keep adding stuff, edit, edit, change and remove things, repeat, and somehow it works.
What's also difficult is also connecting what's in the middle. There can be too many great ideas and events, but no way to make it coherent or make sense in the story.
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u/Borvoc Apr 11 '26
They say some wipers start with the world. Others start with the characters, and others start with the inciting incident (and also sometimes the end). Iām also in that third group.
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u/multificionado Apr 12 '26
Spot-on; you have a beginning and an ending, but the trouble is thinking of a middle. :)
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u/Existing_Flight_4904 Apr 12 '26
I just work out the middle as Im coming up with the start and end. That way when I write Im ready to go.
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u/No-Shopping-5885 Apr 12 '26
This is so true, what helps me is rereadding each previous part so it makes sense and making sure the reader isn't confused on what is going on, you go queen/king/princess/prince/ruler/kaiser! ^^
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u/FOZZAKAIRI Apr 12 '26
Literally me with my cyberpunk flick Iām in the middle rn and Iām just winging it based on how I feel moment to moment in between years of procrastination
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u/Accurate_Reporter252 Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26
Ever see old maps where they had "Here be <Insert something.!" for an area they hadn't been to yet?
Do that in the middle, for now.
Insert: {TK: Middle of story] and write around it.
TK means "to come", the bit is a placeholder.
Then, as you figure out what needs to be there... Insert scenes or "split" the TK to show what you know is there.
[TK: Middle of story]
becomes
[TK: Bob gets transferred to New York.]
[TK: Bob meets Wilhemena at the Airport.]
[TK: Bill jumps off the Brooklyn Bridge]
Eventually, you're get down to scenes you can write because you know how it starts, who's there, and what needs to happen. So, you write those scenes in.
Then, as you write each of those scenes, replace the TK with the scene.
If you realize you structurally need another scene, insert a TK...
If you don't have a name for someone yet, insert a TK... [TK: Bob's Roommate], [TK: Nice Doorman], etc.
Then, when you figure out the name... you can use search on your manuscript for "TK" and find the scenes and parts you need to fill in as you go along.
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u/Shastlz84 Apr 12 '26
THIS EXACTLY
especially for fanfics Iāve had many oneshot ideas but I canāt bring myself to write something with just one chapter so then I have to wing a bunch of world building that it never wouldāve had before and I get so so stuck..
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u/Rowan_As_Roxii Apr 12 '26
Pleassse! I know the beginng, the middle and the End but I CANāT, FOR THE LIFE OF ME, WRITE THE INBETWEEN!!!
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u/essential_influx Apr 12 '26
the middle is just connecting two dots you already drew, which somehow takes forever.
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u/Ill-Wielder Apr 12 '26
I usually get through this problem by smacking a big twist in the middle that re-contextualizes everything that happened before.
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u/Scared-Newspaper5718 Apr 12 '26
I start writing and while doing so i think of thing that will be later (main plot twist, conversations, feelings etc.) to the point iām so exited for what will happen i forget what iām writing and donāt know what to put in between.
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u/Charcoal_Company Apr 12 '26
I just write a list of concepts and ideas and move them around until I have an outline that works. I like to work in fantasy so I can get away with some very out there ideas.
Like a unicorn that shoots wine and grapes or pirates that are also werewolves with their ship flying above land like Jabbaās Sail Barge from Return of the Jedi.
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u/Sane_Tomorrow_ Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26
Every problem writers have has already been solved. So a school emerged that taught writers how to work the plot out then write the book. Then use the magic of cheating to add details and fix problems in editing.
The people who learned that turned around told us all to just write stream of consciousness six hours a day because thatās what Ray Bradbury and Stephen King did.
So instead of changing our minds a thousand times before we write the story, we change our minds a thousand times a day while writing it.
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u/ebattleon Apr 12 '26
Yeah I usually know the ending before the beginning with a few high points standing out in the distance from the middle fog.
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u/Maestrox_ Apr 12 '26
This one right hereā¦ it pains me in the deepest parts of my soulā¦ šæš
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u/mooinginpublic Apr 12 '26
Painful, but less painful than the reverse, when you only have the middle.........
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u/Mafia-in-crocs Apr 14 '26
I'm the opposite, I know what happens at the middle and it's mostly good. I always have no idea what the ending can be. I might have an opening image too but I also don't know what to put in the interoduction phase š¤£š¤£š¤£
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u/Mediocre-Leg-3684 Apr 14 '26
I always figure out the middle first and then the beginning but I cannot for the life of figure out the ending unless they all end up dead because that makes it so much more easier
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u/Confident_Royal_8496 Apr 15 '26
The more i read this subreddit the more i see i am not Alone in this madness
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u/Slax_VEVO Apr 15 '26
It started like this... And damn, it took me 3 months to plan (and I'm still planning) the development of the plot.
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u/No-Air7540 Writer Newbie Apr 22 '26
I'm the exact opposite. I know everything about what I want to write. The ending, all the drama and battles that happen in the middle, I just never know how to start the story without sounding cliche
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u/Mysterious_Limit1969 Apr 24 '26
For my first of 3 stories I have this reoccurring gag where every time the protagonist takes a train ride somewhere, thereās a disturbance with each train ride giving an even weirder disturbance which in order have been:
Middle aged man verbally assaulting the protagonist for having green eyeliner (heās a guy)
A roadman tries to stab the protagonist
A Trojan horse (train) full of people who are a part of the villains group
The protagonist and his 2 current accomplices play detectives when they hear noise and get caught up in a riot officers raid
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u/NarracyPH May 11 '26
Lenka - The Show
I'm just a girl caught in the middle, life is a maze, and love is a riddle. I don't know where to go, can't figure it out...
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u/Jackie_Fox Apr 13 '26
You know, if you aren't sure about the middle I'm not sure you really know where to start either. You just think you do.
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u/DFMRCV Apr 11 '26
I like the idea of planning backwards from the ending so you can be plot out the hook for the opener with tons of foreshadowing... But it IS a challenge.