![\"\"](\"https:\/\/argyle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/DSCF0387.jpg\" "\\"DSCF0387\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nI have written this novel in a particular way, after trying others that were less successful. And so far so good, the story seemed to keep chugging along so long as I show up regularly – almost everyday.<\/p>\n
Maybe it’s because I was warned and brought it on through my own trepidation, maybe because it is inevitable, but here I am at the dreaded sagging middle. A very important threat has just revealed itself to my character and I am not sure how much I should develop it.<\/p>\n
Up till now, I have just written, more or less sure of where it was going but I did agonize over one section when I had to get Elle (my protagonist) from one place to another and I was very resistant to do it. I wanted to avoid the whole move and come up with a compelling (read deus ex machina)\u00a0 reason for her not<\/em> to endure this dangerous trip. The great lesson that I learned was that I identified why I didn’t want Elle to go on this journey.<\/p>\n It was simple, I just didn’t want to write it. It was too complicated, tricky. In short, it was simply too much work and I didn’t know if I had it in me. Then I remembered something I heard from John Gilstrap,<\/a> New York Times bestselling suspense novelist and a panelist at this past Sleuthfest Conference:<\/p>\n A storytellers greatest sin is to squander drama<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n So I wrote the scene and it became an important turning point in the novel. Thank you Mr Gilstrap. That alone was well worth the price of admission.<\/p>\n