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Ohh, plot brainstorming is the best ever! I’m a fan.

Middles are hard, I agree. I tend to enjoy plotting, but I agree with you and @msqueen8 that outlines can sometimes be anti-creative. I like to figure out main plot points that lead to the final climax. I found this image that might be helpful:

Personally, I visualize the falling action to be a steeper (quicker) slope, but whatever 🙂

What I like about it is it has all these mini-climaxes that lead up to the main one. For example, if your hero is facing down the villain in the final climax, what happens in the meantime? What smaller events (each larger or more important than the last) lead to the climax? Maybe at first, the hero and villain meet. Then the 2nd one, the hero stops the villain from doing some small misdeed. Maybe the stakes are higher for the 3rd climax, and the hero fails. Whatever. The point is, each builds up to the final climax.

So, when you’re plotting, one option would be to know the beginning and the ending, then figure out 3-5 “big” things that could happen in between that would build your story up toward its climax.

I think of these things as the pillars holding up a raised freeway. I don’t have to figure out everything in between, I just need the major supporting structure. From there, my creativity can flow to fill in all the smaller details.

That’s how my brain works, anyway, and I’ve found it helpful. If you ever want to talk specifics and brainstorm together, let me know! I love doing that stuff 😀