Earlier today I talked to a friend of mine who has founded several businesses. I wanted to run some of the scenarios in my novel past him to make sure they were plausible from a business perspective. Of course, the story isn’t about business. But it IS about the relationship between two people who do business together, so I want to make sure the business details hold water.

He gave me a suggestion on how to make a tighter link between the business connections and thereby raise the stakes higher. His idea made sense and I wove it in. Then I realized that if my characters crossed the line in the way I intended them to they might become unsympathetic. But yet, I so badly wanted them to cross the line in a particular way and a particular place.

What to do?

Had I painted myself into a corner?

Then, I remembered one of my writing rules that I’ve held tight to for years. You can never write yourself into a corner because you can always write yourself out of it. So I came up with another way into that particular way and particular place for line-crossing that will maintain the sympathy of the readers! (At least, I hope it well!)

And, really, that’s the great thing about writing. There are always solutions for problems in fiction.

xoxo

Lauren