More Real Than Real

I’m just about done editing my new/old novel. Okay, “done editing” isn’t accurate. I’ll edit at least once more before I start querying it. And I’ll do a read-aloud of the whole novel. (Nothing beats reading aloud to find missing prepositions, incorrect subject-verb agreement—all those pesky things that crop up when you edit the text.)

But I’m not at the read-aloud stage yet. I have to finish this edit, and I’m stuck on the third to the last chapter.  It’s the beginning of the climax. To the reader, it reads as a climax, but it’s a faux climax that sets the reader up for the real climax. This would be great...except I can’t make it flow. I’ve got all the little plots points worked out in the text. And they fit. The problem is the transitions. And my main character isn’t cooperating. Maybe it’s because I’ve put her in a horrible situation and she’s angry at me. But she’s behaving like an actress who’s flubbing her lines on purpose because she doesn’t like what the writer has written. Either that or she wants more money. Is there a Main Characters’ Union somewhere? Maybe this is like a “blue flu” strike. Clearly, the two of us are going to have to have a sit down and hash this out. Have any of you other writers had a character do this to you, just when the end is in sight?

Yeah, I know I take my characters too seriously.  But they are like real people, sometimes more real.