Hi Reader!

Writing this from the bathtub. Again. 🛁👋✒️

(That's what I get for trying to soak blissfully in silence: an invitation for my brain to do work. 😅)

And I have a confession, something that's been kinda bothering me for a few months now, but also kinda not? 🤔

(Keep reading. You'll see what I mean.)

So here it is:

I have a terrible habit of not finishing romantasy series. 📚

I'm totally hooked for the first three or four books, then when the final installment comes, I just sorta lose interest.

And I've been trying to figure out why this happens. Because it wasn't a one-time thing.

These books are GOOD. They're engaging. They follow all the rules about romantasy plot and romance beats.

‼️ But I've realized that the common denominator in every series was that…

👉 I knew how it would play out.

Maybe not exactly, but close enough that I didn't feel compelled to spend even more time with the characters, especially when all those shiny new adventures are tempting me from my TBR. 😬

Now if you're thinking, "Sue, romance—even romantasy—is by definition predictable. Because there's a guaranteed HEA..."

✋ That's not the kind of predictable I mean. (Because it better have an HEA!)

✨🧹🩸

Here's why I get bored 👀:

I can see the path the heroes will take toward the HEA. I know how the plot events will unfold, even if it's at a high level.

Like…

She's a blood witch with necromancy powers. One of her mates was killed. And now she's going to face off with the evil goddess who screwed her and her men over to begin with. ⚔️

I am HERE for this reclamation of power. But when the "bringing her mate back from the dead" piece is layered in, I lose interest.

Because of course she will bring him back. She has to. Or the HEA is thwarted and the romance readers are pissed. 😤

If the plot was only heading into "reclaim her power" territory, I'd have kept going. Because experiencing that with the hero character is satisfying.

🙄 But with that extra thread in there, making me feel like I already know what she's going to DO, the plot now feels rote, stale. And this particular kind of story depends on exciting external plot events to keep the romance and growth arcs moving.

(Which is totally fine and fits the genre.)

But my brain has already worked out what the end will look like. 🤷‍♀️ So, basically, I'm done with the whole series.

👉 The problem, the reason my brain keeps checking out early, is that the plot 📈 gave away too much of the 🌱 character growth arc too early.

TL;DR: The series is veering into plot-driven territory. And that is true for nearly every romantasy series I have DNFed this summer.

🛁 📉 🔎

YOU probably know this same experience from the writer side of the story. ✍️

Whether you're writing a series or a standalone book, you need ✅ certain things to happen at certain points for plot reasons. But when you put all the scenes together and read it through, your story feels...

🐌 slow

🌧️ muddy

🥱 boring

🤷 meh.

And you can't point to just one thing that's causing this disconnect. Because, from a plot and trope perspective, nothing is technically wrong with the manuscript.

And somewhere in there you start wondering whether the problem is your heroes, or your romance, or yourself. 😰

So in my newest Story Sorcery podcast episode, I explain what might be happening to cause that mid-story slump...

🎧👇 Listen to Episode 18: The Muddy Middle

🎧🤩 LISTEN NOW!

It's around 30 minutes long. And you're probably gonna want to 📝 take notes for this one. So 🎧 listen when you can take quick breaks to jot down your ❣️ thoughts and ideas.

I also walk you through an example from a published romance by one of my favorite authors—Hot Axe by May Archer—and showcase just how much heavy lifting 🤯 the scenes in your story's middle section are doing.

Then at the end, I give you one question to diagnose a potential problem with the middle of your own manuscript.

🎧⚡👇

​​Listen here​!

☝️💡❣️

⚡📆 This episode will give you a running start for your August exercise inside The Fear Fingerprint module if you haven't yet done it. And if you have already finished your exercise line lib, you can recheck your work using what you learn in this podcast episode. You can revisit (or start) your Fear Fingerprint work here.