Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Those Puppy Dog Tails

When I was young I had a dog named FiFi, and no she wasn't a poodle. She was a mutt that just showed up one day. I begged to keep her. In those days anything French was wonderfully exotic to me so she became my black and white, long-haired, scroungy looking FiFi. Today I reminded myself of FiFi. All I did was chase my tail.

And now, my novel as taken an unexpected turn. I'm following my outline (or trying to) but today my hero learned some information that the heroine was supposed to discover. I'm not sure what to do about it. Do I let him have his way for a few pages and see where it leads, or do I back up now and follow my plan? This could make things difficult for me. Hero is pretty excited about his discovery but why wouldn't he be? If he has his way, the novel could end a good 100 pages too soon, he'll be cleared of any wrong-doing and can go on his merry way. Still, I can't help but wonder if there are some interesting surprises ahead.

I think I'll follow his lead. He'd better not turn out to be a Fifi.

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