Rule of Six Update

The Rule of Six (see last post) totally worked. It did become the Rule of Eight, but it worked.

I wrote down six obvious possibilities to get my heroine out of her scrape, but wasn't ready to stop there. I numbered ahead, and by eight, I had a winner.

Remembering that in first person it's sometimes easier to play with perceptions than in third, I had her think something was happening, but had it turn out to be something completely different. i.e. she thinks hero is the thing stalking her, but it turns out to be a different creature. Then, hero gets to be viscious when he attacks that creature (not attacking the heroine, thank God!) so we're not cheated out of that reality. Win-win.

Now that's all settled, I'm gunning for at least a ten to fifteen page day. Over on the Jenny Crusie/Bob Mayer blog http://crusiemayer.com/blog/ there is a great reminder to have your opening scene foreshadow and echo your closing one. I'm keeping that in mind as I head toward my WIP's end.

Happy Writing!