I've never before written a main character who won't do what I tell her to do. Could it be that I'm rebelling against myself? I'll drop her into a situation in which her response should be predictable, but somehow she goes the other way. I won't say it's maddening, per se, but I'm sick of her telling me what to write. Who's the boss here?
This phenomenon may contribute to the novel taking so long to write. If events played out as expected, my protagonist would have some setbacks, sure, but the story would reach its conclusion much quicker.
Except she keeps sabotaging her own progress and thus, mine. Neither I nor she knows if she even wanted a career in music. All signs pointed to "no". Despite the fact that the man she loved rejected her, she was happy in her adopted hometown. She still got to sing with the band, and she had friends she cherished. When the visiting A&R guy offered her a recording contract out of the blue, she kept wavering and was all set to turn it down. Until she accepted it.
When her first single became an accidental hit, her giddiness didn't last longer than a minute before she began questioning her label's intentions. But she kept following orders (sure, she followed their orders) and undertook every new scheme they laid out for her.
And then she just quit ~ dumped her band and went off the grid. Why? Yes, she had a bad experience, but nothing she couldn't have handled. Instead she fled. At that point, frustrated, I had to try to dig her out of her self-created mess. I'm still digging.
And I wonder if she'll even be grateful. Or will she turn around and make some other boneheaded move? It's not that I'm totally oblivious to her psychology, but can she at least work with me here? I'm trying to help her!
I know what she should do; I also know she won't do it. At this point I don't even know if she deserves a happy ending. Maybe I'll just rescue her out of pity.
I guess she and I will take it one step at a time.
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