The rewrite of my troublesome soggy middle is nearly complete. One mor scene down and one to go.

I chose to write in dual POV, which is proving challenging. Each POV character needs their own arc and set of both internal and external goals, fears, and antagonists. I’ve been struggling with one POV character in particular. I knew generally what he wanted. But, for some reason, I’m struggling to give him agency in his quest for those goals.

His goal is simple, he wants purpose, power, and admiration. He is an Enneagram 3. But I made the mistake of spending too much time focusing on his external antagonist, and not enough developing in internal struggle. The result is that his external antagonists are running the show.

Tonight, as I wrote, I intentionally spent more time trying to see the scene as my protagonists is seeing it and not as I, the writer, see it. As the author, it’s easy to slip out of the character’s head and into omniscient story telling. Keeping the correct tense is crucial to keeping readers engaged.

Exercise: Write three scenes from your protagonist’s POV, then from the POV of the other characters in this scene. This will help you understand the motives of the characters. Then focus your protagonist’s version. This may help you stop shifting into omniscient but will also grant greater insight into what the other characters are thinking and feeling without you having to shift into their POV.