Writing Excuses26 Jul 2015

Writing Excuses 10.30: Q&A on Middles, with Marie Brennan

Marie Brennan joins us again, this time to help us field your questions about middles. Here are the questions we collected from the various social media feeds:

* How do you maintain interest without having something explode every other chapter?
* In short fiction, how do you prevent try-fail cycles from bloating the story?
* How do you prevent the introduction of POVs during the middle of the story from being jarring?
* How do you keep subplots from turning into side quests?
* In longer stories, how important are "breather" chapters that ease the tension?
* Do you have methods for weaving plot and subplot threads together? Do you outline this, or keep it in your head?

Fifty-Cent Word: Proprioception, which serves as an excellent metaphor for what expertise with a set of tools feels like. Thank you, Marie, for simplifying the whole "the tool should be an extension of your hand" thing. Our Sponsors: * Check out MasterClass and use my code masterclass.com/EXCUSES for a great deal: https://MasterClass.com * Check out Talkiatry and use my code talkiatry.com/WX for a great deal: https://www.talkiatry.com Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/writing-excuses2130/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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