open letter to my characters

[aperfectsong]

I have a college professor in my head when I sit down to write fiction. He says, "What's the conflict?" "What do the characters want?" But what happens when everything they want is too easy? They never want things they can't have. They are mostly content with their lives in the way we are when we realize everything we do and are is temporary. So here is an open letter to the characters I am struggling to write:

What's wrong with your fictional lives that there is no driving force behind your actions, only pretty scenery and descriptions of your personality, only the words you say with no desire behind them?

You need to say the wrong things to the wrong person. You need to get lost and believe you are lost, not temporarily, but forever. You need to want someone who doesn't want you or who can't want you or who you hurt too much or who hurts you. You need to believe your relationship unreconcilable, your future a gaping hole, your past something that haunts your words, relationships, and behaviors, something unavoidable. Stop reconciling your differences so easily. Fight. Lie. Hurt. Want. Love. Stand up for yourselves. Carve out a place for yourself in the world even if it's just for a page.

Make me care.