: 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

@Fox6458700

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Love the concept!! Sounds to me though that this is about motives and goals - at the moment, the author/narrator has goals for a 'normal' narrative, and the character's goal is to disrupt the author's plan. Given the situation, the only way one will get the upper hand is by manipulating the perceptions/goals of the other.
Sounds simple eh?
We're working on the assumption that the author can control the character's situation and circumstances, possibly including direct control of the actions of other characters around him (e.g. if the main character refuses to fight a bad guy, the bad guy can be made to die suddenly of a pre-existing disease just to move the story on). However, the author can't control the thoughts or actions of the main character, he can only influence them by cleverly arranging the character's situation. It's manipulation rather than control per se.
But here's where it gets interesting - in order for the Author to directly manipulate the character, the author must behave cleverer than the character, and keep the manipulation very subtle. Overtly affecting the character's world to mindlessly direct the character's actions and wants is not a subtle strategy, so the probable result in the character you've described will just be an existential crisis and/or attempted suicide (as already described). Even if the author succeeds in making the character grudgingly do what is wanted of him, it won't make a satisfying read.
If on the other hand the character manages to be cleverer than the author, the whole thing becomes much more interesting as the character seeks to exploit tiny loopholes in the scenes / situations that he's given. The 'storyline' then becomes more and more irrelevant as it devolves into a battle of wits between an author struggling to contain his creation and a furious character using various tricks to dodge the intended sequence of events. I have no idea how this would end though - and I think it's going to be an extremely interesting proposition to write a character that is cleverer than you the author!
Again, 10 out of 10 for a great concept though, I'd quite like to try it myself sometime!

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