Tip #446: The middle

Your protagonist and antagonist don’t know when they’re in the middle of the story... they should be doing everything they can to end the story on the very next page

http://kevinkruse.com/9-writing-tips-from-thrillerfest-2013/

But they're held back by something (maybe a character flaw such as recklessness, or a lack of certain information about the problem or antagonist - usually a combination of things).  So they're making mistakes, mistakes which have consequences.  Often unpleasant consequences.  But these mistakes and consequences and how the protagonist deals with them eventually teach the most stubborn protagonist about the thing which is holding them back (often after their biggest mistake plunges them into the Dark Point).