Striking Gold

Writing is an interesting art; you find gold in the oddest places. (There's a reason it's been called "The Spooky Art.") You're sitting there, you know what you're supposed to do, you don't do it, then you lean back and wonder why something isn't working. You think for a while, you remember what you're supposed to do, you do it, everything works out nicely and you commend yourself for your cleverness.

In "Broken Rocks" (now at 9200 words) I set up the confrontation with the chief bad guy one scene too early. When I got to the next scene I realized that there was nothing providing the 'oomph' I needed. I'm staring at the screen and I realize that I'm stuck because, dramatically speaking, I'm right where the chief bad guy is supposed to enter stage left. Problem was, he'd been dealt with in the previous scene. Correcting that mistake on the fly, I just wrote him in where he was supposed to be and everything started rolling again. Problem solved, cleverly.

So anyone out there trying your hand at this, remember: If there's no 'oomph' your bad guy is in the wrong spot.