Most people who know me know that I’m a big proponent of the outline or the story break.  I think it helps you meet deadlines and not fall into seductive dead ends that look good at first then you write a hundred pages and realize you’ve been dumped in a swamp.  The argument against the outline is that it’s rigid, a straight jacket, confining.  But it’s not.  If you know the big scenes and the ultimate end of the book there is still plenty of room to move and breath and adjust.

Yesterday afternoon I finished a big scene about economics and using money as a weapon.  Then last night I realized that I could go back to a chapter much earlier in the book and add in a small exchange between my hero and his father that will resonate incredibly in the scene between my heroine and her father.  I won’t draw any attention to it — it will be a bit like an Easter Egg embedded in a video, but I’ll know it’s there and that will delight me.  And some readers will spot it and that will be fun too.

It’s always a balance between being too subtle and “hiding the football”, and being too “on the nose”.  That’s when beta readers really come in handy, and I’ll be looking for one once this book is completed.  I want fresh eyes to see if the entire story holds together.