Hey, so I have the characters, villain, and villain's motive decided, as well as the bare bones of the plot. Unfortunately, my brain wants to go straight from point A to point Z without doing any of the actual plot bits. Does anyone know of any good references to map out the middle bits?
Well, I don't know what you mean by 'plot bits,' but a story needs a lot more than plot if it's going to grab readers. It needs atmosphere, a good setting, a believable set of characters whose situations are the kind that readers will identify with, some story conflicts that really bite. Think about stories YOU love to read. What do these stories contain? Don't be tempted to rush from plot point to plot point. Take your time. Immerse yourself and your readers in the world of your story. If you over-write and include too much stuff that ends up not mattering, that's no problem. It's easy to prune a story later, after your first draft is finished. What is NOT easy to do is add in the bits that make the story come to life. So make sure the story comes to life in your own head before you start. Get to know your characters, your setting, your story problems—not just the idea of what they should be. As a writer, you don't want to just tell us what happens and what happens next, do you? That's just an outline. If you're wondering about creating subplots, then you might want to get hold of a book or two about writing subplots and fleshing out a story. Go onto Amazon and look at the writing books on offer there. There are lots of ideas that can spur your own. Whatever you do, take your time.
========= They are all the points you go through when you do the A-Z thing you mentioned. If you are having trouble connecting the dots then maybe you need more points. I would suggest looking at the snowflake method. Start with a beginning and end and insert something in the middle you like. Then add something that makes sense between those three points giving you five. Repeat and have 9 points, then 17, 33, 65, 99 and pretty much a complete novel beat sheet. Sometimes you may add 2 or 3 between the others. So you should end up with 90 -120 points. Then look at them and make sure they follow logically. Shuffle them around as needed. Delete any irrelevant ones. Add any that are needed. Then just write the thing easily without worrying about how to make things fit at the same time you are writing.
=========== That is true. And you worry about that when you are actually writing. The bits , called beats when said in a Russian accent, are the points that get you from A to Z in the story. The writing of that story worries about the characters setting etc and is much easier when the plot is there as a roadmap.
So my answer might not be that helpful, but it's what I do when I can't think of little plot bits to tie big plot points together. I just think about different situations that could possibly occur in the narrative. Then I ask myself what this certain character would do. I think of a few things and then I pick the one I like the best. If I don't like any of them, I scrap the situation and try again with a new one. That's how I normally get bits and pieces here and their to fill out my plot. I hope this helps and I wish you luck.
Try a different approach. Forget the middle for now. Instead, lengthen the story. Your villain commits more crimes - steals a car, kidnaps and assaults a member of the protagonist's family, mugs a businessman in a bathroom of a fancy restaurant, rapes a receptionist. We're talking bad dude here, very bad. To make matters worse, the protagonist gets caught-up in a scandal impeding the investigation, something horrible like assaulting or killing someone innocent under mistaken identity. And he (or she) is an alcoholic or pain pill addict with a bad temper, getting into a fist fight with an associate, a shouting match with the boss. Just keep adding to the story and, pretty soon, you'll have enough material not to bother about the middle.
