If you're comfortable sharing....I'm super curious where you felt that "middle" began and ended in Villains, i.e., what plot point(s) were added to keep the tension up. You did such a great job of weaving in innuendos and foreshadowed events that it is difficult to unravel (as it should).
This sorta falls into the "a magician never reveals his secrets" category, but to vaguely answer your question, the big Holy Shit moment in the middle is the death. A lot of people had told me they knew a murder was coming but not right there. I had the right instinct to put it where I did--largely because the whole book was borrowing from Shakespeare's tragic structure, following the pattern not only of Maccers but the other three major tragedies the fourth-years perform--but we changed the circumstances of the actual death to make it land with even more impact. Obviously you can't put firm bookends around "the middle" but because IWWV is laid out in Acts, the core of the middle is Act III.
I wan to know so badly what big thing you did in the middle of Hot Wax!!!! My middles are a nightmare!
Oh we’ll discuss!! (It was also nightmare but we got there)
If you're comfortable sharing....I'm super curious where you felt that "middle" began and ended in Villains, i.e., what plot point(s) were added to keep the tension up. You did such a great job of weaving in innuendos and foreshadowed events that it is difficult to unravel (as it should).
This sorta falls into the "a magician never reveals his secrets" category, but to vaguely answer your question, the big Holy Shit moment in the middle is the death. A lot of people had told me they knew a murder was coming but not right there. I had the right instinct to put it where I did--largely because the whole book was borrowing from Shakespeare's tragic structure, following the pattern not only of Maccers but the other three major tragedies the fourth-years perform--but we changed the circumstances of the actual death to make it land with even more impact. Obviously you can't put firm bookends around "the middle" but because IWWV is laid out in Acts, the core of the middle is Act III.