Interesting thing I've finally learned about writing: you really can't force it. And it really doesn't pay to try.

If you're writing fiction, no matter if it's plot driven or character driven, you just cannot force your characters to do your bidding. You can try, but they will occasionally rebel or stage sit down strikes if they don't like the direction you're making them take.

Non writers will not understand this. You are to be forgiven.

The worst is when you get blocked. If you've been guiding them through a story, micromanaging, calling all the shots and forcing them to go places they don't want to go... then when (not if) you suddenly hit a dead end and don't know what direction they need to take to move the story forward... don't just stop writing.

People who get micromanaged and are not trusted to make their own decisions will freeze when left to their own devices. If you've been pulling your character's strings for too long, then your story stalls and you don't know their next move, they will probably just hang in their strings like abandoned marionettes. How can they make decisions if you've never let them try before?

If you keep writing-- a word here, a sentence there, maybe throw a paragraph to them like a bone... they might just wake up. Hope for that. Put a roadblock in front of them, throw a snowball at their heads, stir things up, and-- believe it or not-- they might come to life and surprise you.

I've spent roughly three years working-- in fits and starts-- on Deathe and Taxes, the third in my Yoopernatural Mysteries/Tales of Life in Deathe series. I saw in my mind the beginning and the hook, and I created some amusing diversions, envisioned a resolution, and then spent many random, stolen (from "real" life) hours working toward it. But when I came to the end...

Well, I knew how it ended, but I had programmed my characters to just stand around and wait for me to hand them the next page of the script. And when I didn't feel it, when I couldn't deliver... they did nothing. They couldn't act without a script. I'd spent a couple years getting them to this point, then many months puzzling over the mechanics of the climax. Weeks-- months-- passed with me cringing when people asked me when #3 in my series was coming out. I didn't know. What I didn't say was that my characters weren't telling me anything, but that was only because I wasn't asking them any questions. I was waiting for them to act while they were waiting for me to tell them what to do. There is no progress to be found in this scenario.

Then, in only one day (specifically, Wednesday, November 25, 2011), I set them free. One took off running. Two leaped up and attacked, another defended, shots rang out, fireworks ensued, and (almost) everyone lived happily ever after to move forward into Tales of Life in Deathe #4.

Of course this is all subject to the approval of my editors. The primary one did not like the situations I forced my characters into in an earlier draft, any more than the characters did. We will see. Even if this ending is wrong (I don't think it is), I hope this lesson sticks with me, and Deathe Warmed Over will not linger three years in production like #3 did. To paraphrase a famous demand: Set my characters free!