What Do I Do When I Get Stuck in the Middle of My Story? A Story Architect Answers

You started strong, the story was flowing, and then somewhere in the middle, it stopped. You don't know what comes next, and it feels terrible. Tom Schlesinger, a story architect, says this is the question writers ask him most. Here's his answer.

Short answer: Feeling stuck in the middle of your story may mean you're exactly where you need to be. As a writer, you go on a parallel emotional journey with your characters, and what you're feeling now may be what your audience should feel at this point in the story.

What should I do when I'm stuck in the middle of my story?

Tom's first response is to reframe it: what if you're exactly where you need to be right now? Instead of treating the feeling as a failure, he encourages writers to see it as part of the process and pay attention to what it's telling them.

Why do writers feel stuck in the middle of a story?

Across the hundreds of projects he's worked on, Tom has seen that writers and storytellers go on a parallel emotional journey with their characters. When your characters are in the uncertain middle of their journey, it makes sense that you might feel that uncertainty too.

How can feeling stuck help my story?

Those feelings, including the ones you notice in your body, can be useful. Tom says that what you feel in the middle of the story is often what you want the audience to be feeling in the middle of the story. Your own experience becomes a guide to the emotional experience you're creating.

How are the writer, characters, and audience connected?

Tom describes a relational field between three journeys: the journey of the writer or storyteller, the journey of the characters, and ultimately the journey your audience goes on. Understanding that connection can help you use what you're feeling instead of fighting it.

Transcript

"Hi there. I think the question that I get asked the most is writers saying, 'I've gotten into the middle of the story, and I don't know what to do. I've got writer's block. I feel terrible,' and on and on and on. And I always tend to say the same thing: what if you're exactly where you need to be right now? In the hundreds of projects I've worked on over the years, I've realized that as the writer and the storyteller, you're actually going on a parallel emotional journey with your characters. And so in a sense, when you have these kinds of feelings, and these kinds of body feelings, that's what you want the audience to be feeling in the middle of the story. So there is a relational field between the journey of the writer or the storyteller, the journey of the characters, and ultimately the journey that your audience goes on. I'm Tom Schlesinger. I'm a story architect, and you can find me on ProPass in the App Store."

Watch Tom answer the question (tap the video to play):