3 Parts Make a Whole (lotta chocolate)

THE BEGINNING

• Could there be a better time than starting a new project? Possibilities are endless and your imagination knows no bounds. Consider everything.
• Your protagonist is shaking your hand and giving you a winning smile.
• Supporting characters are waving and doing a small but tasteful dance.
• The road stretches before you, straight and true. You know there will be unexpected bumps, but that just makes the process more interesting.

Helpful Hint: Celebrate the beginning of a new project by eating a few bits of chocolate. Reward yourself: You're creative and you're proud.

THE MIDDLE

• This is where manuscripts come to die. All action stops.
• Your protagonist is sulking over in a corner, turning around occasionally and sneering in your direction.
• Supporting characters are determined to push their way into leading roles. They're fighting for the spotlight and your protagonist doesn't seem to care.
• You discover your straight and true road is actually going in a circle.

Helpful Hint: Console yourself with many bars of chocolate. Say to yourself that the sugar will give your brain a boost. Anything helps.

THE END

• How did you wind up with so many subplots? Time to tie them all up. You have so much to do and so little space to do it in!
• Your protagonist has taken back the spotlight and is pushing the plot to its conclusion. There were a few pies in the face and he/she slipped on a few banana peels, but everything is back on track.
• Supporting characters are doing their bit to bring the main plot to a close. There's still a bit of pushing and shoving, but you've learned to accept it.
• The road is downhill to the finish. Don't speed, but don't ride the brakes. You're almost there. There's no feeling like that finish line breaking against your chest as you raise your arms in triumph.

Helpful Hint: You know how this goes - get out the chocolate. The triumphant get chocolate. It's the unwritten, but acknowledged law of the writing world.