My MC wants out!

Is it possible to do a story where you're arguing with the character?

A thing you could do is have the MC be mad about the lack of fatality in her car crash, which could then send her spiraling into misery and melancholy from which she see's no exit but the final one. And then you could apply some word magic and ideas of your own, Iunno, and THEN you could see if she finds something worth living for? (preferably not a romantic relationship, too cliche.) Or, yaknow, you could have it be a fatal crash, and not let her realise until the end of the book? This story is yours, not you main character's, it may be about her, but it's not hers.

Nerdilydone said:

Is it possible to do a story where you're arguing with the character?

Click to expand...

On a dare, my first NaNo had a chapter where the characters went on strike. Best part of that failed book.

Damoclian said:

A thing you could do is have the MC be mad about the lack of fatality in her car crash, which could then send her spiraling into misery and melancholy from which she see's no exit but the final one. And then you could apply some word magic and ideas of your own, Iunno, and THEN you could see if she finds something worth living for? (preferably not a romantic relationship, too cliche.) Or, yaknow, you could have it be a fatal crash, and not let her realise until the end of the book? This story is yours, not you main character's, it may be about her, but it's not hers.

Click to expand...

I like both Damo's options.

I would also add that if characters are people (which yours sounds like she is), they respond to the Freakonomics motto: People respond to incentives. If a character wants something you don't, change the incentives. Put her in unofficial charge of the neighbors' kid so that she knows if she dies he's left with an abusive mother and neglectful father. Give her a burning desire for revenge that she won't fulfill until book three but that keeps her breathing. Kill off her father right before the book starts so that her mother is still grieving and she doesn't want to leave her mom alone. You have options. You're her god. Make her kneel.

Honestly, if you're that type of writer, it would be cool if you could write a short story (it probably works best in that form) of you arguing with a character about the value of their own lives.

Maybe you need to delve a bit deeper into the character. Have you really made things so hard for them that they're more than willing to accept death as a release? Or is the character just kind of a whiner?

Maybe just write the scene the way the character wants, and see if they really just sit there and die or not.