Write Your Novel From The Middle: A New Approach For Plotters, Pantsers, And Everyone In Between By James Scott Bell
A review of a writing craft book you’ve probably never heard of.
It wasn’t long into this writing craft book that I began to see the value of it. It takes a completely new approach to writing than I have ever seen in any other novel, class, or video. The main premise of this novel, as the name would suggest, is focusing on the middle of your story where you’ll find the ‘Mirror Moment’, as this is the place where the meaning of your story truly comes together.
Bell uses examples from well known novels such as Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell and populars movies such as Lethal Weapon, to really prove that it is in these middle points of these stories that the true heart can be found, and that is what has made them so powerful. He explains that if the story is character driven, then it is in this Mirror Moment that the character reflects deeply on themself and on who they are, while if it was a plot driven story the Mirror Moment would be the point where the main character sees how great the stakes, or threat, is against them.
After dedicating a chapter to this Mirror Moment, Bell goes on to provide a framework for writers to construct their story, making room for the Mirror Moment to be included. He does this by taking a spin on the traditional ‘inciting incident, climax, resolution’ story structure, and breaks it down into further scenes that takes you each step of the way whether you are a Plotter, Panster or something of a Hybrid writer.
While this book is short, and does lack some greater depth, it is very direct and concise, proving to be a fantastic tool for beginners writers or those who may be a little more advanced.
Bell has given a fresh perspective, something I personally appreciate, being someone who finds themselves getting stuck and overwhelmed by the traditional story structure. I find that when trying to restrict myself to following that traditional story structure, I lose track of the flow of the story, and instead end up trying to force scenes that I think are meant to be included because, that’s what it’s supposed to have, right? Reading Write Your Novel From The Middle encouraged me to see that story structure is not as limiting as I once thought, it is not concrete, and there are a bunch of angles you can take, approaches you have the option to choose if another doesn’t quite work out for you.
On its own or in conjunction with other writing craft books, this book is an asset to every writer. I would definitely recommend it to those of you who have a passion for words, for craft, and for fine-tuning your skill into something that can produce impactful, memorable stories time and time again.
