Category: writing

I’m in such a state of turmoil. If only my angst could drip onto the pages of my current WIP (work in progress). I’m writing this rough draft partially blind, which terrifies this plotter. I plotted the beginning. I also plotted the end. The black moment, the epiphany, the climax, and denouement. But the middle? Getting from here to there? I didn’t do much with that except write out some scattered scene ideas. So as I plod through the middle, with only snatches of the path visible in my mind, I find myself prone to panic.

You see, this is so much different from the way I went about writing my last novel. I plotted every single scene before I wrote that novel. Complete with a scene goal, motivation, and conflict. Writing that novel took very little thought. I just had to discipline myself to sit and type the words. And it came together so beautifully. The conflict saturated every scene and oozed onto every page. It was inherent to the plot. The hero and heroine had diametrically opposed story goals. The conflict in this story isn’t so obvious. I have to dig a little deeper to bring it out.

And in the midst of my searching and writing through the uncertainty, I find myself struggling, for the first time, with what many writers call the “sagging middle”. I used to read about this before and think (with a smidge of pride), “I don’t really struggle with that. My middles are pretty solid.” Not so confident with this one.

My friend T. Anne tweeted a great idea. She said to write a list of the ten worst things that could happen to my character right now. I took her advice and the story took an unexpected twist. So while not having everything completely plotted out scares me, it’s also sort of exhilarating.

Here’s what I want to know….

Do you struggle with sagging middles? How do you go about giving your manuscript a tummy tuck? And what kind of writer are you? Not just a plotter or a pantser. Give me levels. Like how much of a plotter are you? Or how much of a pantser? How do you go about creating and crafting a story?removetweetmeme

Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t seen (500) Days of Summer and you don’t want to be spoiled, then don’t read this post.

Hubby and I rented a movie a couple Fridays ago. (500) Days of Summer. I read the back. It looked really cute and quirky. It’s an indie film and we tend to like those. Plus, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a great actor. In case you don’t know who he is, he’s the boy from Angels in the Outfield, only all grown up.

So, fast forward a bit. We’re settling into the couch downstairs with a Papa John’s pizza and we start watching the movie. Right away, the narrator warns, “This is not a love story.” I should have listened. But I didn’t. How could I take him seriously when right after his warning, the movie shows a close up of Summer and Tom holding hands and she’s wearing a ring? I decided the narrator wasn’t to be trusted. Of course this was going to be a love story. The genre’s a romantic comedy.

Um….no.

More like romantic tragedy.

This nonchronological movie is about Tom and Summer. Tom writes greeting cards for a living (although he wants to be an architect) and Summer is the new receptionist. The movie skips around within the 500 days Summer consumes Tom’s life, showing the breakup very early on. I assumed they’d eventually get back together. I awaited the moment with great anticipation.

You see, their relationship unfolds in a completely adorable way. They charmed the pants off me. I loved them. They were so silly and cute together. Tom is a classic romantic who believes in soul mates. Summer, however, came from a divorced family and openly admits she doesn’t believe in love. Yet, all of her actions contradict what she says when she kisses Tom first and reveals things to him she’s never told anybody else in her life. She basically strings him right along….and me as well, because I’m thinking, “I can’t wait to see how they finally get back together.”

Later in the movie, after their breakup, they run in to each other at a wedding. Everything is wonderful again. They dance. She invites him to her house later in the week for a party. Tom goes to the party, his hopes completely high, only to find out she has a RING on her finger. Yes, a ring. We never meet the guy. Summer goes from this girl who refuses to be anybody’s girlfriend, who supposedly doesn’t believe in love, to a girl who is now somebody’s fiance. Only it’s not with Tom, who I’m totally rooting for. She’s apparently over her love-phobia and in love with some dude whose only screen time is a quick shot of the back of his head. Tom is left broken-hearted.

So he does some soul-searching, or whatever, and I am so disillusioned at this point that even when the movie shows Summer’s veil being lifted to kiss her groom, I’m convinced there’s going to be some sort of weird twist at the end. Somehow, this is all a mistake and Summer will realize she loves Tom. Because, seriously, how could you NOT love Tom? He’s one of the most lovable characters I’ve yet to see on the screen.

Wanna know how the movie ends?

Tom decides he’s completely wrong about love. He’s now adopted Summer’s attitude. Love doesn’t exist. It’s just made up hype perpetuated by greeting cards (which he helped write) and pop songs and Hollywood. He’s sitting on this bench, his favorite spot in the city, and Summer is there. With her stupid ring. Tom admits to her that he was wrong about love and she was right. What does Summer say? She tells him he wasn’t wrong. She tells him she finally felt “it”. The “it” being love. And she says, “I just didn’t feel it with you, Tom.” Umm…okay…let’s drive the stake further into his heart, shall we?

I was beyond frustrated.

Then, it shows Tom about to interview for a job with an architecture firm and he meets this girl who is his competition. After some cute back-and-forth banter, he asks her out. She says yes. Her name’s Autumn. Gag me.

Tom’s little sister has a great line in the movie. She says, “Just because you meet some cute girl who likes the same music as you doesn’t make her your soul mate, Tom.” Very poignant. But all poignancy is lost at the end when Tom asks this new cute girl out just because they like the same bench in the city. I’m led to believe it’s going to happen all over again. Tom will fall in love with Autumn and she’ll crush his heart too.

He doesn’t seem to have learned anything and Summer ends up coming across as this selfish woman who has no qualms about leading Tom on for 500 days. It’s all good for her because she had fun with Tom, but hey, she ended up meeting her soul mate. Who cares if she crushed Tom’s heart in the process? She obviously doesn’t.

This movie had SO many amazing parts. Like this split screen thing where we see Tom’s reality versus his expectation when going to Summer’s party. It was brilliant. Or when Joseph Gordon-Levitt breaks out in a hilarious (and very cute) song and dance because he’s completely in love with Summer. Even some of the lessons were great. I smiled and laughed my way through 3/4 of the show. But sadly, the final fourth just ruined all the good parts.

So what did I learn? What can I take away from this experience?

Endings are important. Very, very important. It can be the most delicious dinner you’ve eaten in your life, but if you chomp into a raw onion at the end…I don’t care how tasty the meal was, you’re going to be burping onion for the rest of the night.

I also learned that I like Happily Ever After’s (otherwise known as HEA’s) a lot more than I realized. At least when I’m watching what I believe is going to be a romance. And so does my hubby. He said the movie put him in a bad mood.

Questions to Ponder: Has an ending (to a movie or a book) ever ruined the story for you? Have you seen this movie? Do you completely disagree with me? Because the movie’s getting awesome reviews, so obviously a lot of people don’t feel the same way as I do.removetweetmeme