Do you GILGOE?

There are a lot of acronyms in the writing business.

HEA: Happily Ever After
TSTL: Too Stupid To Live
BICHOK: Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard
WIP: Work In Progress
MC: Main Character
BIAW: Book In A Week

I'm sure you could add some more. But what about GILGOE? Have you heard of it? No? I won't keep you in suspense any longer. GILGOE means Get In Late, Get Out Early. It refers to scenes and how the transitions should be handled.

In other words, if you've got a scene where the hero and heroine are headed to a crime scene, don't start the scene with the long drive in the car, start the scene as they walk toward the police tape. And don't end the scene when the clean-up crew comes in to mop up the blood, end it with a good hook, while the reader is still embedded in the action. Get in late in the action, get out early in the action. This will keep your readers wanting more and keep the pace going by avoiding the slow transitions. You'll find this technique in a lot of romantic suspense (Roxanne St. Claire) and some paranormal romance (Kresley Cole) but that doesn't mean it only works for those genres.

So...do you GILGOE?