Do You Want to Keep Your Readers Happy After the First Pages?

Most of your book’s story takes place in the “middle” segments. Characters grow, change, and explore the world around them while twists and turns move them along their way. With your antagonistic force revealed, you can cause a variety of tense moments to challenge your cast. And all of it should build to the climax and resolution at the end of your book. So, how do you make the middle engaging enough to keep people reading after the beginning has hooked them?

Starting the Middle

It’s all about the plot. The inciting incident from the introductory pages of your story signals a shift from the beginning to the middle. What happens after sets readers up for the inevitable conclusion.

While that doesn’t mean you can’t introduce a few more elements or characters to your story, you’ll want to do so sparingly and not let any of those elements take away from the main plot thread. Remember that the middle pages work in service of advancing the main plot.

Some New Faces, Places, and Situations

Expanding on the idea above, you’ll likely be introducing a variety of new factors that help tell your story. But whenever you do so, ask yourself: “Does this advance the plot or help readers learn about the protagonist(s)?” It shouldn’t play a big part or even be necessary if it doesn’t.

It becomes essential to figure out the difference between minor characters and extras, scenery and settings, and scenes and activity. Each of these elements adds an opportunity to meaningfully grow your story while the other injects some flavor into the world so it can feel alive.

Understand that distinction, and you’ll be well on your way to fleshing out the central portion of your novel.

Keep Readers on the Hook

The beginning should already make clear what your protagonist hopes to achieve. As you continue to develop the plot, it’s intrinsic that you stay focused on that goal or set of goals. That will be the driving force behind your character’s motivations, for better or worse, and readers will keep turning pages to find out how they’ll succeed (or fail.)

If you don’t establish a clear goal, you’ll likely meander throughout the middle chapters and lose your audience. So, as you write, remind yourself of what your characters want (remember setting stakes?), what drives them, and what impediments stand before them.

Try to have this plotted out somehow, in point notes or graphs or one of those crazy boards with the yarn going every which way — the point is, know the trajectory so you can write about it meaningfully.

There’s More Going On Than the Reader Thought

While the middle generally follows the main thread, here’s your chance to introduce subplots. Again, this should support the central arc and allow you to develop your story’s tertiary characters or themes.

You can reveal a new character who joins the main cast for a while or raise the stakes with a harrowing side adventure where the heroes learn something vital for their primary goal. As your book develops, you’ll likely end up with multiple subplots to keep driving the story’s momentum, and they’re key ingredients in keeping your audience reading.

Setting Up the Climax

In high school English, they often cover story structure, and as you near the end, you find what’s called the “rising action.” Honestly, that pretty much happens from the inciting incident onwards. That’s because you want to enhance that conflict I told you to build as you go.

It will keep readers hanging on in anticipation of the book’s climax, as every encounter or moment of contention builds the character’s knowledge, skills, and experience to help them (possibly) succeed in facing their final challenge.

If you aren’t continually introducing new conflicts, you’re setting readers up for a boring read. The climax needs to bring some sense of satisfaction. If it just suddenly happens without any action along the way, there will be no payoff.

Challenge your heroes — not only is it more believable (life is generally a struggle, remember?), but it’s more interesting.

The End is Nigh

Your climax sets up the finale for your novel. It’s what your entire story has been building to: a confrontation that, ideally, will bring all your protagonists’ struggles to a satisfying end as they reach their goal (unless you’re writing a series, then there’s a chance things could go awry…)

To make the most of this potentially epic moment, the stakes should never be higher: life or death, wealth or poverty, love or loss, those sorts of things. And in order to get what they want, your hero needs a challenge that pushes their limits, so everything seems nearly out of reach.

One way or another, it’s good if it’s unsafe, and they feel insecure in their ability to succeed. Your readers will be on the proverbial edge of their seats. Then, when they ultimately win, whether in part or full, they at the very least should walk away having learned something or changed in some way, providing a purpose for all the struggle.

If you can get your readers hooked within the first pages, following the above tenets can keep them going. Use your middle to grow the connection between your audience and the characters.

Raise the stakes, challenge the heroes, make them earn their prospective victory, and take your readers on an emotional roller coaster that they can’t stop riding. You can check out my online course to dive into a more detailed discourse on your book’s midsection.

Like I’ve said before, it has loads more info and resources to help you learn the ins and outs of writing your manuscript and then self-publishing it. As always, please feel free to get in touch with me at jsims@jairesims.com or on any social media platform.