The Focus Shift

This is another plotting tool I invented, after writing several stories that were just not good enough and that received feedback from professional editors.

I have a hyperactive brain. This causes me to put way too much into my stories. I usually had multiple storylines, each chapter following a different one, which come together near the end.

When I first received feedback about this, I was taken aback. I knew plenty stories that were far more complicated, which had far more going on, but were not deemed “too complicated” or “overwhelming”. What was the difference?

The answer, so I’ve learned, is focus.

What does it mean?

Instead of switching between completely different storylines, stay focused on one storyline for a longer period. A chapter, multiple chapters, maybe a whole section of the book. Once you’re done with it, switch the focus (in its entirety) to the other storyline.

When plotting, try to group related events or concepts into the same chapter. Invent a way to allow every chapter to focus completely on one aspect of your character, setting or plot. Once chapters start to focus on multiple things at a time, you’ve lost the reader. (Even if each thing, on its own, is quite simple and easy to understand.)

This all combines into what I call the focus shift. To keep a complex story easy to follow,

• Stay focused on the same general concept for a longer period of time
• And once you’re done with it, shift to a new focus entirely.

In practice, this means you’ll have at most a handful of focus shifts, even for very long (fantasy) novels.

It will take some practice to find if you need to do this shift, and when you want to do it. But once I realized this, my stories became far easier to follow, and I noticed this in other popular novels.

The midpoint twist

This is a related idea that I’ve found equally powerful.

The middle of a story is the place that often gets muddled and lacking direction. It’s often dubbed the “muddy middle” or a “sagging middle”. To combat this, most popular stories use a simple trick: the midpoint twist.

Exactly halfway your story, place a MAJOR event that completely changes the trajectory of the story.

As with any event, it should be set up. It shouldn’t come out of left field or feel random. Nor should it be the most climactic event of your story: afterwards, action should still be rising, towards your actual climax near the end.

But it’s a big twist. Something that breaks the story in two pieces. And those two pieces should be related, but significantly different.

Once I learned this, I have always planned a midpoint twist in all my stories. And it has worked every time.

And how do you plot a midpoint twist? Well, by using a focus shift!

• Up until now, the hero has been pursuing a certain goal, focused on that.
• The midpoint twist should turn that upside-down, giving the hero a slightly altered goal to focus on from now on!

Often, this is accompanied by that literal focus shift I explained above: something major happens at the midpoint, creating an interesting cliffhanger … and then we cut away, continuing the story focused on something else.

Example: Saga of Life

One of my ongoing projects is the Saga of Life. I aim to write 10 short stories for it every year. Each of them has exactly 10 chapters, and I apply the midpoint twist around chapter 5 and 6.

One story, for example, is about farm animals who are treated badly and aim to escape the farm. The first chapters build towards that escape attempt (setting it up, planning, …). When do they attempt the escape? You guessed it: chapter 5.

They fail. That has consequences: the daughter of the farm owner now knows what they’re doing. So, from now on, the focus has changed slightly. They still want to escape, but the rules have changed and completely different obstacles are in play. (Some animals think the daughter will help and think she’s an essential part of the plan, others have a deep distrust towards humans and don’t want any of this.)

Now imagine that story without the midpoint twist. What would be happening around chapter 5 and 6? The animals would … still be looking for a way to escape. The reader has now been reading about animals planning to do something for 6 chapters, and nothing has happened yet! Once they actually escape, near the end, it won’t feel satisfying. It would feel like the predictable ending that should’ve come much sooner.

Hence the “saggy middle” that feels boring and lacking focus. Use the midpoint twist to hook the reader back into the story, before they start to drift off.

Now write!

Pick an idea that has multiple storylines (or multiple clearly separated locations/concepts/mysteries). Now write that story, keeping in mind the focus shift and the midpoint twist.

• Design your plot so that chapters can focus entirely on one thing.
• When something important (or complex) happens at a storyline, stay focused on it for a little longer, and only then completely shift focus to another storyline.
• Around the midpoint of your story, place a HUGE event that shakes up the hero’s world. An event that breaks the story in two parts (before the midpoint and after the midpoint) which feel clearly different.

This challenge is especially useful if you write longer (fantasy) novels, or have the tendency to overcomplicate stories (like me).