~ The Poet's Place Cafe~

Each individual creates whatever process works for them, but your struggles are reflected in the twisted language used to maintain the prescribed rhyme pattern. The steps you show seem to cover the requirements, especially #2, but you know that the middle lines are not "free," so why not just show the b rhyme?

With only two rhyme sets to work with, some words may not have enough matches to fill the requirements. In this case, I go to the thesaurus to find other options. Here is a link that may help in that regard: https://www.rhymezone.com/ .

There is no requirement for meter in the Villanelle, so your efforts to find a "matching meter" may create an unnecessary burden: http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/villanelle.html .

Slight variations in the refrains are allowed to help with that transformation you mentioned.

Here are a couple of several links available to assist in better understanding this process:

https://www.writerswrite.co.za/poetry-101-kinds-of-poems-the-villanelle/

https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/article-hollywood-villanelle

Hope that helps some.

Let the creativity flow from your soul!
Dave
"The Poet's Place "