As I was going through all your responses to my 2025 survey (a big thank you to those of you who filled it out!), I noticed one issue came up numerous times as something many writers struggle with: the saggy middle.
I think many of us have read books that started off great—that seem to be surging right along until all the fun and action comes to a grinding halt. Then we lose interest and that book joins the dreaded DNF pile.
As writers, second only to the book’s opening not grabbing our readers’ attention, this is one of our worst nightmares. We want our readers to voraciously turn pages, eager to keep reading to see what will happen. We want our middles to hold their attention, in other words.
Unfortunately, I think that there are some common mistakes that writers make when it comes to their middles, that leave readers disengaged and more than eager to put it aside for a different, bright, shiny book in their TBR.
Both of the biggest mistakes I’m going to cover this week come down to not having a full understanding of story structure and how it works. The mistakes I see are: Lack of a cause-and-effect trajectory (aka no narrative drive), and not executing the midpoint beat properly. Because Sunday is Groundhog Day, I’ve decided to use the example of the famous time-loop movie, Groundhog Day as an example here. Let's jump in!
Groundhog Day Movie Poster
Lack of cause-and-effect trajectory (narrative drive)
Sure, I might argue that many middles sag because of low stakes or not enough obstacles, but if you look deeper at what those crucial elements of writing fiction amount to, I’d point to narrative drive. Narrative drive is what keeps people reading. It’s characters making choices and taking actions that alter the trajectory of the book. If your character isn’t making choices as obstacles are presented to them, then there is no story.
If we examine this through the “saggy middle” lens, what we see is this: Without narrative drive, the book doesn’t feel like it’s moving toward anything. The character is simply going about their day-to-day, maybe facing obstacles, maybe not, but they’re not causing anything to happen. And therefore they don’t have to make any choices based on the subsequent effects.
If you haven’t seen the movie, the premise is this: A self-centered, a-hole news reporter is doomed to repeat a dismal Groundhog Day over and over and over…and over, and over again until he finally learns how to be an un-selfish, decent human being.
Let’s do a quick breakdown of the story structure of the movie:
Setup/Opening Image: We meet Phil, the jerk, as he arrives in Punxsutawney to report on the famed Groundhog Day festivities. He’s disinterested, self-centered, and completely unlikeable. We watch him go through the whole day, including interacting with his lovely producer, Rita. We see all the things in his life that need fixing.
Inciting Incident: He wakes up on what should be February 3rd and is shocked to find that he’s forced to re-live the events of Groundhog Day all over again.
Fun and games: First there’s confusion and annoyance. He can’t understand why this is happening. He’s probably a little bit terrified. Then it happens again, and again. So he does what many morally-grey characters (or people) might do: he tries to use his circumstances for his own gain. He robs banks, eats whatever he wants, does all the illegal things that could get him in trouble, etc.
Midpoint: Of course I’ll elaborate on this more below, but on this particular Groundhog Day, Phil sets his sights on Rita. He’s very drawn to her, likely because of her goodness, and she tells him what she’s looking for in life and in a partner: she wants a career, love, family, children, and then she describes the kind of man she wants, whom Phil is decidedly...not.
Bad Guys Closing in: As he repeatedly uses the information she told him about what she’s looking for in a partner, it becomes clear that he’s been tricking her to try to get her to like him. She sees through his crap and slaps him repeatedly. (In other words, he’s not changing, he’s just being manipulative).
All is Lost: None of what he does works to break him out of his time-loop, so he wallows in his misery and decides to repeatedly try to end his own life. Still, he wakes up every single day at 6am in his bed and breakfast to Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe.”
Dark Night of the Soul: He also learns that there are some things he can’t change, as he repeatedly tries to save a homeless man, who dies no matter what Phil does.
Break into 3: Phil opens up to Rita and they have a beautiful day together. He’s drawn by her goodness and is devastated when their day together ends. He decides to devote himself to being a good person—the kind of person Rita is and the kind of person she would like to be with. In other words, he has to fix things the right way.
The Finale: He decides to use his situation to help others: he saves lives, gives generously, grows his own skills (learns to play piano, learns to sculpt ice, etc.). We see all of this when he and Rita spend one amazing day and night together.
Final Image: He wakes up at 6am to the same song, but the radio announcer says something different and the curse is broken. He and Rita go outside to explore the freshly-fallen snow.
Per this story structure, the middle is everything from the Fun and Games scenes to the Break into 3. If you know your 3-Act structure, then it’s all of Act 2.
Okay, so what do we see here? We see a guy who’s selfish, morally-grey, unkind (character) who is stuck repeatedly reliving Groundhog Day (story problem). He wants to get to February 3rd but needs to become a better person in order to do so (desire and internal need). So what does he do? He makes choices that affect him and others: he steals, he treats people like garbage, he breaks laws, sleeps with women, etc. But none of that works to fix his story problem. He’s still stuck.
Then he decides to get closer to Rita. He’s drawn to her goodness and he wants to be with her. But again, he fails to actually change the things that need fixing. And in the All Is Lost beat, he tries to end his life repeatedly and fails.
After this doesn’t work, he finally understands that he needs to really transform himself.
So, this whole middle is when he is being tested. He’s pushed and pushed and pushed, and he repeatedly fails to get what he wants (both to win Rita and to break this time-loop curse.)
Groundhog Day could be really boring. It is literally a story where the same things happen over and over again. And yet, there is cause and effect. Trial and error. Phil makes choices that help him to grow, leading him to fix things the right way. His actions have consequences for him, and they force him to rethink how he’s behaving—and who he is.
As you analyze what is making your middle feel saggy, you must ask yourself two questions to determine whether you have a cause-and-effect trajectory: Is my character making choices and taking action? And are those actions leading somewhere? In other words, are they building toward a single conclusion that your character must draw as a result of the events they have lived through?
So, to avoid a saggy, boring middle, make sure you are forcing your character to make choices that affect their growth as they respond to the obstacles they are faced with.
Ineffectively Executing the Midpoint
Think of the midpoint as the place where there is a significant shift for your character. The best way I’ve heard it put is that the midpoint beat is the spot in your book where your character moves from being reactive to active.
In other words, they’ve spent the first half of Act 2 (or as I like to think of it, Act 2A) simply reacting to their new world that they’ve been thrown into. So for the case of Phil, he’s been reacting to waking up every day on Groundhog Day—he’s freaking out, then as it continues, he’s eating, drinking, using the day for personal gain, breaking laws, etc. But when the midpoint hits, something shifts.
In this case, Phil sets his sights on a different goal. He decides he wants to pursue Rita, and uses this curse—this new world—to try to get what he wants from life. He’s no longer just reacting to the circumstances, he’s actively trying to change himself and his life. (But he’s not doing it the right way yet.)
So in this midpoint scene, when we learn more about what Rita wants from life, we, as viewers understand that Phil isn’t the person for her…yet. And his attempts to become that person are surface level—as we see Act 2B (or the second half of Act 2).
Finally none of this is working, so he comes to the All is Lost beat, where he essentially loses everything: his life, his will to live.
But it’s from this midpoint shift where the rest of the story begins to unfold. Phil’s actions, and choices start to change. He can no longer keep doing things the way he has been doing them.
At lot of times during the midpoint, you might see a big revelation, event, or encounter, that makes the character reassess their goals. So in the case of Groundhog Day, Phil’s encounter with Rita makes him reassess what he wants in life—even if he’s not quite ready to really change.
Take a look at your midpoint. What shifts for your character? What do they realize that turns everything they formerly knew to be true upside down and calls it into question? What will they choose to do with this new knowledge? (Hint: it MUST be something.)
If your midpoint is missing the mark, if it doesn’t indicate a tremendous shift, then it might just come and go and reader will be none the wiser—and their engagement might decrease, versus increase. Essentially, your midpoint is something big that happens that makes the reader sit up and take notice. It’s that “okay-what-are-they-going-to-do-next” moment.
All of this is to say, that if your story structure isn’t working—if you have no real narrative drive that is building toward a change; and there’s no pivot at the midpoint, then your middle will feel saggy.
Phew! That’s all I have for you this week, but I also wanted to remind you that this is your last chance to sign up for my 12-week workshop, Revision Confidence, in which we’ll go over all aspects of story development like this. We kick off next Tuesday, February 4th. Click below to find out more or to sign up.
Thanks, as always, for being here!
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