Saturday, August 28, 2010

Back out of the Writing Into a Corner

All week I'm pondering how to get one of my character's out of this jam down in Panama.  I think hard about her going into the ladies and either coming out in a Continental or Copa Airlines flight attendant uniform and maybe even a nun's habit.  This would be perfect, except that less than twenty pages before, another character shaves his head to change his identity and these scenes would be too similar and way too close together.   So how would she escape? 


Significant Other, who sometimes has good plot ideas, says, "have her and the bad guy go into a bar while they are waiting for the charter flight to Colombia."  Not too preposterous.  So how do you escape in a bar?   Create a diversion.  She goes into the ladies and sets a fire?  How to do that?  

I get my handbag with it's tiny toiletries case and see what's in there.    Alcohol wipes!  Hand sanitizer!  Mouth spray!  I take them out onto the deck with some wooden matches and a heat proof brass bowl.  Guess what?  They all burn. Nice little flames.  Now, add some cologne (mostly alcohol) and use the fire to heat  a really strong drink and we're golden.  A big fire of paper towels in the waste basket and maybe a sink.  Sets off the smoke alarm.  

This character is a smoker so she has matches or a lighter. 

General pandemonium as my character escapes through the nearby kitchen and the bad guy going bat shit because he's herded onto the street with the other patrons.  The character grabs a cab and goes to the other international airport and gets on the first flight to the U.S.  With only her handbag.  Without the suitcase with a million dollars green. 
Bad guy takes money to Colombia and will have to explain how he lost the woman.  We're not in his point of view, and by then the book's final scenes are wrapping up.
I congratulate myself on our ingenuity.  Now, I no longer have to worry about carrying a millions dollars over the border from Tijuana.  I no longer have to worry about where in Mexico to refuel and all the intricacies of chartering a jet airline.  I no longer have to worry about a lot of things. 
Of course my characters all have the BIG worries.  They're in deep doodoo.  
So be it. 


Grapeshot

No comments:

Post a Comment

Your comments are always welcome!