Editing When the Story Loses Steam

Ah, the sagging middle. Also called the muddle, the slog, the struggle, and other depressing nicknames. The middle of the story is known to cause existential dread among authors as they toil over it.

You’ve surely encountered problems with a sagging middle before in a novel you’ve read. A story starts off with a bang! And then something happens, or, actually, nothing happens or what happens is so confusing you can’t make heads or tails of it . . . and you lose interest. You wander off, never to return to the book. There’s nothing to bring you back.

You’ll encounter these types of problem middles as an editor, too, and unfortunately when you’re getting paid, you can’t wander off, never to return.

The middle is the meat of the story, its heart, the main event, the part of the manuscript that explores the story problem and shows us who the characters are. Without a solid middle, a promising beginning and a spectacular end won’t make any difference. Readers will not enjoy the book.

The middle is where the plot plays out, the characters are developed, the conflict intensifies, and stakes and consequences fill the page. That is, if the author knows what they’re doing. Otherwise, the middle is where we yawn through tepid conversations, pointless plot events, and character change that comes out of nowhere.

Middles are very difficult to get right.

One of the reasons manuscripts can have what I call sagging middles—middles that are boring, confusing, or otherwise unengaging—is because authors aren’t aware that they’ve lost the plot. They may have difficulty noticing when their stories have started to sag. (This is not always the case; authors can sometimes be aware that the middle of their ms sags, they just don’t always know what to do about it.)

I was once part of a writers’ group where one of the members, let’s call her Amanda, would read her work aloud, declaiming each scene like an actor—raising her voice when a character was angry, whispering when a character was scared, evoking the emotion through her voice.

The problem was . . . the emotion wasn’t on the page. Eventually the group leader started having other people read Amanda’s work so that Amanda could hear what was actually on the page, not what was in her mind as she wrote.

Authors often need us to be the ones who read their work to them (metaphorically speaking) so they can hear what’s missing.

Editing Sagging Middles – The Class!

Starts Monday!

May 12-25, 2025 | $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.

For more information and to register, click here.

New! Mid-Year Review

Starts July 7 (two weeks).

$35/$15 for members. (Note: Members need to use the coupon that can be found in the membership program classroom.)

During last winter’s annual review, several people mentioned that they’d like to do a mid-year review so that they can tweak things as needed before the year ends. That’s why I’ve created this new class.

In this forum-based class/conversation, we’ll do a mid-year review of our individual businesses and reflect on what we’ve accomplished, what went well, and what we’ve learned.

We’ll consider how our accomplishments have aligned with our values and mission and consider ways to become more fully aligned.

We’ll talk about the challenges we’ve encountered and what may be keeping us from taking steps and work out solutions to our challenges.

But our main focus will be on taking those lessons into the second half of the year!

Class materials will include review prompts, such as questions to journal about and information to research. We’ll use the forums to talk about our answers, help each other out, brainstorm and act as sounding boards, and create a plan for the coming months.

For more information and to register, click here.

For Members

Find the coupon code for the new Mid-Year Review in the Membership Program classroom. (This class costs just $15 for members!)

New discount for PerfectIt and Draftsmith software! Save 30% off your purchase of PerfectIt and 20% off your purchase of Draftsmith. PerfectIt is a well-regarded program that many copy editors use to help ensure their edits are applied correctly across an entire manuscript. Use the coupon code you’ll find in the Membership Program classroom.

The new instructor-led class, Freelancing Through Tough Times, is available to members for just $75, but you have to use the coupon code that you’ll find on the membership program classroom page.

Upcoming Classes

Instructor-led classes starting soon:

• Editing Sagging Middles, starts May 12, 2025 (two-week class)

• Intermediate Line Editing for Fiction, starts Jun 2, 2025

• Getting Editorial Work from Book Publishers and Packagers, starts Jun 4, 2025

• Freelancing Through Tough Times, starts Jun 30, 2025

• Mid-Year Review, starts Jul 7, 2025

About Jennifer Lawler

I help editors figure out what the hell they’re doing.

If you’re an aspiring, new, or established book editor or story coach, I can probably help you learn how to do the work better and more profitably.

Through Club Ed, I offer developmental editing classes, a freelance editor membership program/support group, and a slightly bony shoulder to cry on.

I’ve worked as an editor for more than twenty years. I learned how to edit in the trenches of traditional publishing with its insane deadlines, pitiless competition, and crushing bureaucracy. To that I added a Ph.D in English literature with a specialization in medieval literature because of a long story.

Editorial clients have included Simon & Schuster, Girl Friday Productions, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, Barnes and Noble Custom Publishing, and others, along with many independent authors. 

For fiction self-paced classes, click here.

For fiction instructor-led classes, click here

For nonfiction self-paced classes, click here

For nonfiction instructor-led classes, click here

For on-demand instructor-led classes, fiction and nonfiction, click here