I heard on a recent radio show that writing a novel can suddenly get very difficult at around chapter 5. Well, that's certainly true in my case.
My problem is that I have an initial idea, or series of ideas, which make up a good opening act of a book. All goes well for those first chapters, then suddenly I hit a brick wall. This happens even if I know what the end of my story is going to be.
does anyone have any advice, or any anecdotes they wish to share about this problem and how to overcome it? What is the best way of solving the problem of not knowing what happens next when you hit chapter 5....?

Beethoven, my tip is to read this book The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. I hope it helps.

Good luck,

Adele,

Beethoven,

This shows the classic symptoms of trying to stretch a short story into a novel. There is a story-form called the 'novella' (not so popular now) which is in effect as long as a short story can go before it needs to become a novel. But today, publishers are only really interested in novels, and in some genres long ones preferably.

Basically, a short story is more linear than a novel. It usually encompasses one idea, sometimes ending with a twist, which progresses from point A to point B with little inbetween that isn't directly to do with the point of the story. So, a writer can be inspired by a particular idea, the momentum of which could carry him through to, say, 25,000 words, which is about the limit of a novella. He will not need to develop his main character much because with a short story, it's the premise that's paramount, not the journey the characters take within it.

But a novel is a more complex structure, with story and character arcs that will be established early on and which in some cases will not fully reappear until near the end. In other words, the story and characters have to be planned out, with specific staging posts along the way. Some writers can do this almost entirely in their heads as they write (the lucky ones!) but most have to put in a lot of time planning it all out.

I work with published and unpublished writers on their novels, and I've noticed this stretched-out-short-story syndrome cropping up a lot. It's particularly evident with children's writers, probably because children's novels tend to be shorter than adult, so there can be a tendency to try stretching a 20,000 words novella to say 30,000 words. This could be seen as a novel in terms of length but if it doesn't have story arcs, sub-plots, character journeys, etc, then it's really an over-long short story.

Terry

How about considering "what's the absolutely worst thing that could happen to my character at this point?" and then make that happen? See how they cope or not as the case may be. Or even, what's the best thing and how do they handle that? Just a suggestion. Whatever you do, don't get bored, it's terribly contagious and the reader will catch it.

Good luck with muddling through the middle.

Ashlinn

Beethoven, I know that feeling. Some things I've tried:

1) Nanny knows best: if it's pretending to be bigger than it really is, cut it ruthlessly down to size, dusting down each word and each scene to make sure it's doing at least two jobs, one of plot, one of imagery/metaphor/character. You'll end up with the tautest, most compelling short story ever.

2) The Raymond Chandler technique. Bring a man through the door with a gun and see what happens. You may have to go back and make sure he was lounging unobtrusively in a doorway in chapter one, and eavesdropping in a bar in chapter three.

3) Find something or someone in the first chapter you found rather intriguing, but then moved on from and lost sight of in pursuing the main story. Turn that into a subplot, flesh it out, weave it into what you've already got, and then go on with both from there. The new strand can be the motor for the next chapter or two, to get over the hump.

4) Stop there, pluck the aforementioned someone/something out, and write a new story about them. Repeat the above to taste. Bring in things/people from each story as minor elements of the others. Novellas are out of fashion, but linked short stories seems to be the latest, smartest thing in some quarters.

Good luck.
Emma

Beethoven, if you know what the end will be, write that. You can then work backwards, writing the scenes needed to reach that ending.

Once you realise you don’t have to write each scene in sequence, you’ll feel released from the clamp that’s holding you back. If you have a scene in mind for the middle of the story, write it. You may have to dump a few of these scenes, but stash them away in a doggy bag to use in another story. You will certainly have to do a lot of editing – but you’ll have to do that anyway.

Every writer has to find their own method. What does ‘chapter 5’ mean? Halve the length of your chapters and you have a chapter 10 crisis. I don’t break my novels into chapters in the first draft. Knowing I'm likely to move scenes around, rewrite huge chunks, I find chapter breaks restricting until I'm sure of the way all the threads weave together – and it sure as hell removes that ‘chapter 5’ block!

Dee

I agree with the subplots technique. If you have more than one ball in the air, it's easier to pace a novel, as you can flick between differing scenes as you weave them toward a whole.

I used to have exactly the same problem when I was younger. I could see a great opening and a great ending, but everything inbetween seemed a bit of a chore. Somehow, I learnt to enjoy the journey, and now I don't have that problem. Remember that with editing after the fact, Chapter 5 can end up being Chapter One.

JB

I'd have to say I agree with Terry. If you're struggling early in the book and seem to run out of ideas it's probably because the legs aren't there for it. Try writing the complete story without aiming for any particular length. Once that's done (!) you'll probably have a better idea about the potential of the whole thing and there's a good chance some ideas will have come to you on the way.

It may be you end up cutting it down to a short or that ideas have cropped up and a novel becomes possible.

In film, it's always better to have too much footage than too little and I'd say the same applies to novels: Better to have lots to edit out than spend time thinking 'What can I make up here to add another 5000 words?'.

Jon