Make Sense of Your Messy Middle With the Most Underrated Story Element

Your Next Draft

You don’t need more filler. You need better progressive complications.

Your inciting incident hooks your readers and promises them a story they’ll love.

And then comes the middle.

The messy middle. The quiet doldrums of your story, where plot momentum goes to die.

Where your characters wander, your conflict blurs, and you start to wonder if any of it is working.

So what do you do? Add some “stuff that happens” and hope it holds your readers’ interest? Toss in a random subplot? Describe your character’s breakfast in extreme detail?

Nope. This is the space of the progressive complications.

And in this episode, I’m showing you exactly how to revise them.

Because the middle of your story isn’t filler or unnecessary fluff. It’s 60% of the story, and it has an essential job to do.

• What progressive complications really are (and what they’re not)
• How they build momentum and escalate conflict
• The 8 qualities I’m looking for when I edit progressive complications
• How to know if your scenes are working—or just taking up space
• And more!

And to make it even easier, I’ve created a cheat sheet to help you revise your progressive complications. Print it out, keep it handy, and use it every time you edit a scene.

If you’ve ever gotten stuck in the middle of your manuscript wondering how to move forward—this episode is for you.

Let’s take your messy middle and make it unputdownable.

Links mentioned in the episode:

• Get the Inciting Incident Revision Cheat Sheet: alicesudlow.com/87
• Work with me: alicesudlow.com/contact
• Ep. 42: The 6 Essential Elements of Every Novel, Act, and Scene
• A clip from S1E4 of Younger

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Want my support in your revision?

In Story Clarity, we’ll work one-on-one to sharpen your story’s structure and craft a revision plan that works. If you’re ready for thoughtful, personalized feedback from an editor who gets what you’re trying to do, I’d love to hear what you’re working on.

Get started by telling me about your story here.

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