Set Piece: Cure for a Sagging Story

The middle of a story is often my greatest challenge. Action starts with a bang and I expect the climax to be an even bigger bang; but between times, my narrative tends to sag. That’s when I need a set piece to move the story forward.

“Set piece” is a phrase from soccer that describes a maneuver to get the ball back into play after a foul. It uses the element of surprise to set the ball up for a goal. In fiction writing, a “set piece” poses a crisis for the protagonist or another leading character, which threatens to prevent the protagonist from reaching her goal. In fact, when the “set piece” is over, a reader may think the whole story is over, but the protagonist finds a way to press on. It raises the stakes for success. It requires the hero to invest more energy and ingenuity to succeed, so a reader turns the page to find out what happens next.

A typical genre novel needs a half dozen or so “set pieces” to propel the reader to a satisfying conclusion. Let’s say you’re writing a historical romance about a young woman living in an isolated Southern village when the Civil War begins. Although she has few local prospects for a husband, the war may change all that. If she waits for a handsome soldier to ride through her little hamlet, the middle of the story can be slow and boring. But here are some possible “set pieces”:

·       Our heroine discovers that a neighbor is a Union spy.
·       The Confederate army takes her family’s winter food stores.
·       She’s interested in a soldier who gets wounded in battle.
·       An army captain asks her to travel with them and assist the surgeon.
·       The heroine’s best friend and confidante dies of typhoid fever.
·       Her pastor’s wife accuses her of being preoccupied with trivial things.

…And so on. Each scene would pose a crisis for your protagonist. Any of them could thwart her long-term goal of finding a husband. All of them should cause her to reevaluate that goal in light of God’s calling.

Got a story that’s stalled? Think about using some “set pieces” to rejuvenate and move it forward.

Joe Allison writes both fiction and nonfiction, and has been a member of the Indiana chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers since 2010. His most recent book is Hard Times (Warner Press: 2019). He lives in Anderson, IN, with his wife Maribeth.