Keeping the Momentum Going

I may have blogged in the past about "sagging middles," but that's honestly where I feel my main problem lies. When I, as a writer, get to the middle of the story and I know how I want it to end, I sometimes find myself losing interest in the story. Not that I won't finish it, I will, but I can't seem to drum up the same enthusiasm that I had for that story and those characters in the beginning of the book. That's when I want to do something drastic in the story. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't.

In any event, I'm working hard to get over that problem of losing momentum. I try various writing exercises like writing that scene from another character's point of view or writing it in first person or yanking the entire scene out to see what happens to the story without it. Sometimes they work, sometimes they frustrate me no end, hence the million and one "beginnings that have no middle and no end."

Eventually I will overcome that issue and begin writing again. I'll get involved with the characters and the plot and I'll finish the damn book. After the editing comes the part that makes me want to hide under the bed...submitting it to a critique group. Usually the feedback is good, and if it's not good, it's extremely helpful...but it's still hard to sit there and just listen without "defending" your work.

In any event, the time has come to get back to writing so I can get out of the middle of the book and get to the end...and then begin again.

Why read romance?

There's a good question.

Speaking for myself, I read for escape, for entertainment, and for that HEA. Yes, I will freely admit that I enjoy a happy ending. So often in life we deal with heartache, loss and pain. It helps to escape into a good story from time to time. It takes your mind off your current woes and takes you into someone else's problem, then offers you a happy resolution to those woes.

Romance novels, among all other fiction, will always have a happy ending. If they didn't, they wouldn't be romance. They might be romantic stories, but unless that HEA is there, they are not romance novels.

I also enjoy mystery, science fiction, fantasy, and suspense novels outside the romance genre. Do I expect them to have a HEA? Not necessarily. Do I mind if they do have one? Not in the least. It won't stop me from reading certain authors or series novels, but I have certain expectations from certain authors or types of books, and I do want those expectations met.

That's why I enjoy reading romance novels, because I know what to expect. I know they will end well for both the hero and the heroine. I know that they will ovecome the issues in their lives and have that happy ending.