Splitting hairs

Last night my Muse and I had a big pow-wow right in the middle of my writing "DDP," the story I'm hoping to send to the Vamprotica contest. I was going over the story, trying to edit some of the (very) rough areas, so I could send it to my new CPs, Phoenix Ford and Diva Gina, for critique. I figured I'd have time to edit it some more once I got their critiques since the contest ends in roughly 3 weeks. Well, it all started with the number of words. I had managed to keep the story barely under 6K words (since the contest limits the stories from 2 - 6 K), and I wasn't happy about it because that left me scarcely any room to manipulate in case my CPs told me to layer any area more. As I read the story, I felt that I'd done a fairly good job adding some details, but it was then that little nagging voice of my Muse popped up. Muse: "You need to add more about their internal conflict. What motivates him to rescue her from the attackers?" Me: "I already told you, he's been following her for some time and she intrigues him." Muse: "Yes, you know that, but how will the reader know? Where do you say that?" Me: "Well, he goes to where she works and watches her." Muse: "That's not good enough." Me: *sighed and inwardly knew she was right* "Okay, I'll add that scene after the first one with him observing her from high above one of the building." Muse: *sing sangs* "Ah, but that will put it over the word limit." Me: *now I'm getting pissy* "Then what the hell am I suppossed to do?" Muse: "Eliminate the first chapter, and skip to chapter 2, where she's dancing on the pole. Make them meet where she works." Me: "Are you crazy? If I delete chapter 1, then where's the story? I need that chapter 1. It's a very clever one." Muse: "Use it for Armand and Giselle's story then. It'd make a great first chapter for their story." Me: "No way! That's a totally different story. Besides, the hero's and heroine's names won't work with the story line." Muse: "But why not? Both Armand and Gabriel are vampire hunters." Me: *cringed* "Armand isn't a vampire hunter any more." Muse: "Hey! We decided yesterday that he was a vampire hunter too. When did you change your mind? And what gives you the right to change it without consulting me?" (Great! A Muse with a bitchy attitude.) Me: "Yeah, well, I've been thinking about that, and I'll have Armand be just an ordinary man who meets Giselle at a Halloween party. The rest remains just as we planned." (Muse remained silent for a while.) Muse: "The idea has merit. You can stick to them having great sex and use it to return his memory. And you could keep it within the 2 - 6K limit. *grinned happily* Anyway, getting back to Gabriel and Angelina's story, I still say you should eliminate that first chapter. Oh, and don't make Angelina a stripper. How about a DJ?" Me: "What?! We agreed she'd be a stripper. The contest ends in roughly 3 weeks. That doesn't give me enough time to rewrite the whole story. I barely have time to send it to my CPs, get it critiqued, and edit it. And I think it clever that Gabriel falls for Angelina, who's a stripper." Muse: "Oh pleeze! Don't be so naive. Romance readers don't care about strippers." (I slouched on the chair. Damn! In a way my Muse was right, but I'd not tell her in her face though.) Me: *pout* "I'll make my heroine a stripper, and that's that. And if nobody publishes it, I'll self-publish it." Muse: "Then be stubborn about it and sink your own writing career. See if I care!" Me: "Ha. Ha. Ha. So you know, I don't have a writing career!" By now my Muse had stomped out, leaving me doubting about what to do. I could use my first chapter to create a new story for Armand and Giselle. Come to think of it, if I make the heroine a DJ, I'll have to change her name. But I still love the name of Armand. And it's a good name for a vampire hunter. *bangs head repetitively against the keyboard* Now, what am I to do with Gabriel and Angelina?