Clicking Our Heels: Muddle in the Middle or at the
Beginning or the End?

Today, the Stiletto Gang
examines what each finds the hardest part of writing – beginnings, middles or
ends?

Saralyn Richard – Whatever I’m currently writing
(beginnings and endings are harder than middles).

Lois Winston – I spend quite a bit of time deciding on an
opening sentence that will hook the reader.

Kathleen Kaska – The hardest part of writing fiction comes
between the middle and the end. This is where I have to pull everything
together. Being a punster makes it difficult, but outlining doesn’t work for
me.

Linda Rodriguez – Middles! Always middles – when I often
despair that I’ve forgotten how to write.

Debra H. Goldstein – Endings because I have to remember not
to rush to tie things up and in a series give a taste of the future.

Shari Randall – Hands down beginnings are the toughest to
write. I love spinning different endings and middles happen organically, but a
beginning that entices the reader and sets the tone for the book is always a
challenge.

Gay Yellen – I usually don’t begin writing until I know how
the book starts and how it ends. The middle is the bugbear, because the mix of
plot details and suspense is so critical.

Kathryn Lane – Middles are the nemeses I struggle with to
make my writing as exciting as possible so the reader continues side by side
with the protagonist, solving life-threatening situations.

Dru Ann Love – The beginning as I don’t know what to write
without revealing spoilers.

Debra Sennefelder – The hardest part of writing for me
lately hasn’t been the process of writing. It has been dealing with my upended
routine and noise in the house during the day.

T.K. Thorne – I tend to write from beginning to end. If I
have a concept of the ending, then the middle is hard, if I don’t, the end can
be challenging, because everything has to come together in a surprising but
satisfying way. I love beginnings, lol!

Anita Carter – Definitely beginnings. When I first start a new
story, the possibilities of where the story can go are endless. Sometimes I’ll
rewrite the first 50 pages three or four times until I feel like I’m taking the
story in the right direction. It can be exhausting.

Mary Lee Ashford – Oh, I love beginnings and endings. But
middles? They are hard. I think the good news is that in the middle there are
so many choices and then the bad news is that there are so many choices. I do
quite a bit of plotting before I begin writing but I find that once I’ve
written to the middle of the book, there’s often a need to reassess what I
originally had planned. It provides an opportunity to ask if there is a better
choice now that the story has grown. So middles are hard, but also great fun.

Bethany Maines – Ends! I can churn out a great first act at
the drop of a hat, but oh my, those endings. Managing to get all the pieces of
the puzzle to line up and come to a satisfactory conclusion is the toughest
part for me.

Robin Hillyer-Miles – Editing is the most difficult and
most important for me.