HALP!
My characters aren't speaking to me.
To be fair, they aren't technically my characters. But that's never been a problem in the past. Right now, though, the whole lot of them (and there are quite a few, let me tell you) are giving me the cold shoulder. Even dear Sam Gamgee, my standby, the one character that ALWAYS talks to me, is being slightly guiltily and apologetically standoffish.
It's not a lack of plot bunnies AT ALL. If anything, I have too many of them. In the past three days, I've worked on two separate LotR fics, done some preliminary sketch/outline work on the Merlin fic I'm rewriting to make better, written random lines that MUST go into my planned Harry Potter fic (does anyone else use this method?), and asked more "what if" questions in the Star Trek verse than can possibly be healthy. I have time, I have plot bunnies, I have endless supplies of iced tea...
AND NO ONE WILL SPEAK TO ME.
Everything comes out in an awkward, stilted Ashlee voice instead of Estella, or Merry, or Merlin, or Draco, or Spock. And even when I have a plot bunny (MUST...WRITE...MINDMELD...FIC), I'm having so much trouble getting into character's heads, the plot goes nowhere. "The Quiet Hobbit" is practically written for me, for crying out loud, but I still can't get anyone to behave.
Does anyone have any ideas for appeasing my distanced cast? Anyone? Anything? I need some serious help.
To be fair, they aren't technically my characters. But that's never been a problem in the past. Right now, though, the whole lot of them (and there are quite a few, let me tell you) are giving me the cold shoulder. Even dear Sam Gamgee, my standby, the one character that ALWAYS talks to me, is being slightly guiltily and apologetically standoffish.
It's not a lack of plot bunnies AT ALL. If anything, I have too many of them. In the past three days, I've worked on two separate LotR fics, done some preliminary sketch/outline work on the Merlin fic I'm rewriting to make better, written random lines that MUST go into my planned Harry Potter fic (does anyone else use this method?), and asked more "what if" questions in the Star Trek verse than can possibly be healthy. I have time, I have plot bunnies, I have endless supplies of iced tea...
AND NO ONE WILL SPEAK TO ME.
Everything comes out in an awkward, stilted Ashlee voice instead of Estella, or Merry, or Merlin, or Draco, or Spock. And even when I have a plot bunny (MUST...WRITE...MINDMELD...FIC), I'm having so much trouble getting into character's heads, the plot goes nowhere. "The Quiet Hobbit" is practically written for me, for crying out loud, but I still can't get anyone to behave.
Does anyone have any ideas for appeasing my distanced cast? Anyone? Anything? I need some serious help.