As a strange god once said, writing is hard. It feels like there are near limitless aspects to consider during the writing process. With any luck, you should find answers to questions and learn new things in this collection of discussions.
Feel free...
Planning is your friend when it comes to the middle of a story. A strong outline can combat a weak middle in a story. Do the outline thing, or at least plan a little. Do the world bible and/or character bible too if those are fun for you so you don't hate the planning process as much, but the outline planning is far more important and required than those things.
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That being said,
Back to the Basics
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For a quick understanding, let's look at a plotline. Often, the three-act structure is incorrectly considered to be split into equal thirds. In reality, it looks more like what we see above. The middle of the book really takes up about half the book, so getting it right is key to getting a book right. You'll notice that it fits perfectly with the Hero's Journey storyline, but, rest assured, it can work for any story. And it can help you figure out your middle.
A/N: I'll say it here again because it affects the terminology I use and the way that I see the writing. One of the best professors I had liked to say "Point of No Return" instead of "Second Thoughts," and liked to say "Dark Night of the Soul" instead of "Disaster & Crisis." He was a bit dramatic, but he had an acting and writing background so there was a purpose to these term choices.
Something to consider is that while fewer subplots generally don't work, more can. What you sometimes end up with there is a series. A series is a set of these little arcs that go inside a big one, a collection of these obstacles/subplots to the story as a whole. In Harry Potter, each book could be lined up on this little map, but so could the arc as a whole. The whole first book to the moment Harry meets Voldemort (inciting incident) could be considered the beginning, which would make his decision to stay at Hogwarts and fight Voldemort if he has to his Point of No Return. Every other book between the first and last are part of the over-arching second act, though they each contain their own three-act structure. That would make the death of Dumbledore, the mentor archetype, the Dark Night of the Soul. I would argue that the climax of the story is not the fight between Voldemort and Harry, but the scene in the woods when Harry dies, but that's another discussion.
The Nitty-Gritty
Point of No Return. This when the middle of a story should begin. This should really be a decision made by the character, but it can be something else if the story requires it. It concludes the end of the beginning and solidifies the rejection of the main character's "normal world." In different genres, this might mean different things. On a fundamental level, it simply means that great change has occurred (preferably because of a decision made by the main character) and now things (and characters) are moving towards the goal, climax, and end.
