: Re: How to get a character that knows he's the main character to follow the authors agenda? I'm writing a story where at some point the main character is going to realize he is the main character

@Bryan361

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Have another character witness the gun to the head moment and then shift the next scene to the admitting ward of the local loony bin. This will give you plenty of opportunities for humorous scenes involving the other patients. You could even throw in a megalomaniac, who can feed into his main character identity, by proxying for you, the author. Then after he vents his dissatisfaction with his role and receives encouragement from your proxy, he can learn that he has been arguing with a crazy person (as opposed to an author - which is a very fine distinction) and begin to doubt his conclusions.

Doubt is going to be your best tool for getting him back onto the hero quest. As long as he believes that he is at the center of a grand divine comedy, he will resist your plans for him. But once he goes back to believing that the world he lives in is real, he is once again your puppet to command.

Transition from the loony bin chapter with a scene congratulating him on such a swift recovery as he is released into his own custody. Your story will have lost 27 days (which I believe is the minimum incarceration for an attempted suicide), but that is a minor loss compared to losing your main character.

And this all prepares the way for a second revelation of his characterhood in the final chapter, where you can finally speak directly to him from your authorial throne; congratulating him on a quest well completed and listening to his urgent petition to you for many, many sequels.

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