Editing Sagging Middles (May 12 – May 25, 2025)

Description

$150 (Members: $135) | How to edit the middle of a novel | 2 weeks | With Instructor Feedback | Intermediate

We’ve all read them: manuscripts where the engaging opening yields to a mired-down mess. We call that the sagging middle. The tension depletes, the characters lose their way, even the antagonist is bored. The stakes evaporate, characters spend way too much time talking about the weather, and we’re all waiting desperately for the end.

In this class, we’ll talk about how to help authors solve problem middles by focusing on some main principles:

• Setting the story up for success from the beginning
• Using character goals to drive action and complication
• Sharpening the conflict to create greater tension
• Constructing scenes for maximum impact
• Letting theme dictate plot events
• Using the ending to frame the beginning and give meaning to the middle

We’ll also talk about common problems you’ll encounter (and how to solve them), such as the plot meandering, the author getting sidetracked by message instead of using theme to drive decisions, the author making it too easy on the characters, and more.

Each week includes a lesson and an assignment to turn in for instructor feedback.

Intermediate classes are intended for those with some developmental editing experience or who have taken the Beginning + Intermediate DE for Fiction classes or the self-paced DE 1 through 6 classes.

The class is entirely online and asynchronous (you don’t have to be in any particular place at any particular time to participate) but the assignments are due by specific deadlines.