Uncooperative Characters and Writers’ Block

I’m stuck on the last quarter of my MS because my two MCs have stopped talking to each other. I know why they’ve stopped talking. They’re both afraid of the other rejecting them. But I just can’t get them to push past it, and until they do, I can’t see where the rest of the novel goes. In my head, they’re skulking in their rooms, arms folded, shaking their heads and going ‘nu-uh’ when I suggest they should, y’know, stop it. And, seeing as their defining traits are Olympic-level stubbornness, it’s getting a little taxing.

If they’re not going to talk to each other out of choice, that leaves Fate to come along and forcibly throw them together so they have to talk. But Fate’s tapping her foot and going ‘nu-uh’ too. You know you don’t like too-convenient plot wrangling, Kaila.

And it’s true, I hate it when writers force implausible set-ups, just to get out of a bind. There’s reasonable suspension of disbelief… and then there’s shitty writing. And, considering one of the characters has nearly just been shot dead, and they’re still refusing to talk to one another properly (did I mention they’re stubborn?), I’m at a wee bit of a loss as to how I could wrangle it, even if I wanted to.

Part of the problem is that they, and therefore I, haven’t come to terms with where their emotions are right now. Most of their interaction comes from being mad at each other, or some flavour of that. But that anger’s gone now, therefore it’s not driving them to clash. Cue: Stalemate.

Update: sometimes the answer is the one staring you in the face. If they’re not going against each other in anger anymore, there needs to be an anger that unites them, and therefore takes their interaction some place new.

As soon as I realized this, MC1 left off going ’nu-uh’ and started storming around the room instead because someone’s insulted her sister. Right now, MC2’s the only one around who’s ever met said sister, and will therefore understand both why the gossip isn’t true and why MC1’s pissed about it. Companion Character can’t calm MC1, so asks the one person she knows will be able to. Given that the Companion Character’s been so protective of MC1, that gives MC2 incentive to make a move. After all, Companion Character wouldn’t have asked MC2 to begin with, if MC1 was still in ‘MC2’s an evil bastard’ mode.

So, now I have a scene, something to work with. But I don’t want it turning into hero-to-the-rescue territory. The let-me-in-or-I’ll-break-down-this-door trope. Firstly, castle doors are pretty solid constructions and the move would be pure cheese. Secondly, because I’m pretty sure MC1 hasn’t locked the door to begin with. Quite possibly because she’s about to go back out and gut the people responsible for gossiping about her big sister in the first place.