The Red Herring

Okay, so I have written the scenes that introduce the Red Herring and bring it to a head.

IN FACT... I was able to transform my place-holder raise-the-stakes Scene 23 with a more organic scene that both raises the stakes AND grows naturally from the development of the Red Herring!

Which is wonderful!  It's ART!  :D

Now...

13 scenes to go.

When I'm looking at the outline, there are these two huge, gaping multi-scene holes.

Granted, this is MUCH preferable to 4 gaping multi-scene holes in my outline!  But still...  I guess since I feel so close, I also feel a bit further away.  You know?  Like, I'm more aware of the gap between Not Complete and Complete.

Still, analyzing my feelings about the situation won't get the outline finished.

So now I have a scene that is just Amber being nice to Philip.  Some serious flirtation.  I am now set up for a devastating scene where Philip has to ask for another Saturday off from the review show.  It'll be more devastating when Amber fires him.

But then...  The way the scene is setup, she could also be understanding about Philip's needs.

However, if she's not, she and he can argue about how the movie review show is "real" and hunting ghosts isn't.

OR...

She can be understanding, but still fire him!  That would be multi-textural!  That's good!  Maybe she explains that she believes HE believes in this stuff, but she just doesn't.  No hard feelings, but she believes in her show.

That leaves the door open for a scene afterward, allowing Philip to define himself as someone who tries to explain the unexplainable!

AND!!!  It could make the very last scene with Tiffani a sort of emotional BALM for Philip and the Reader!!!  She believes in the same stuff Philip does!  :D

So that's 2 more scenes.  Or maybe 3.

I need to work on the investigation more...

So where am I now?

Scenes 1 - 7 get Philip to Investigation #1.

Scenes 8 - 13 are Investigation #1.

Scenes 14 - 18 get us to the Red Herring: Poltergeist activity.

Scenes 19 - 21 "It's a poltergeist, you're off the case!"

Scenes 22 - ?

Scene 30 - 40 have Philip figuring out the case and wrapping it up.

So I guess I need to figure out the arc of scenes 23 through 29.

That's really just 7 scenes.  I can tell 3 stories in 7 scenes.  Actually, I could probably tell 7 stories in 7 scenes, but I don't want to do that here.

But it's not rally 7 scenes, because I need a scene to have something scary happen to the Brimes so that they call CTPI back in!  And I need the scene wherein begins their 3rd Investigation!  AND... I need the scene wherein Philip takes the time off and gets in trouble with Amber!

So that's really only 4 scenes I need!  :D

But now I need to craft it...

Okay, enough work tonight.  I'll work on this more tomorrow.  (Assuming I don't get called back into work.)