Page 205, still in Chapter 13. Had to go back and change where a connection was revealed, which required rewriting a couple of passages, thus reducing my output today.
Still need to work out the big, final showdown scene. It's a matter of how to get people where they need to be. Motivation is, as ever, key. I actually made reference to this in "The Dreamer Gambit," but everyone has seen low-budget slasher movies where the young heroine is fleeing from the Killer That Cannot Be Stopped. Where does she go? Straight down the path to a dead end. She runs upstairs of all places, and the only reason the screenwriters did it was so that there can be a dramatic scene on the roof, a struggle, maybe ending in the mad slasher falling off and then disappearing mysteriously. After all, a fall from a two story suburban house probably would not kill a regular person, much less a super-human knife-wielding guy in a hooded robe and scary mask.
So planning the Big Showdown is a careful process. How to get Tracy there? I have an idea, but her motive must be sound and believable. I would never want a reader to say, "How can a smart woman like Tracy make such a stupid move?" The same goes for the ultimate rescue. It's got to be the right people doing it for the right reasons.
I'm also getting closer to playing The God Game, which I alluded to in a post about "The Changeling Kill." I have several villains, but should they be arrested or killed? Should any of the good guys make the ultimate sacrifice? This can be almost as tough a decision as the wrap-up and where my characters end the story.
One thing is certain, I always, always go for the happy ending. Never did like a bummer book.
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