Episode 39: The (Temporary) End of Everbody Stills (or: No More Write)

I have been forced to quit writing my current story. By the main character's insecurities, anxieties, and apparent social disorders.

When I left him last, Everbody was on a men's room toilet, attempting to relieve the tension and anxiety he assumed he could rid through his... well, end. But he discovered that there was a problem with this.

Everbody, at this point in the story, has found the object he's been looking for his entire life, the one thing that makes him complete (or so he thinks). He'd thought he'd found it multiple times before, but had failed each and every time.

Now that the real deal is in front of him, within his grasp, he is shut down mentally, emotionally, and sometimes physically as a result.

To quote Everbody (and the section's title), he is simply "Not Ready" yet.I hadn't ever anticipated that this would happen to him, at all. I know how the story ends. This CAN'T happen in that ending. But I can't NOT persue it, the concept of his continuing discoveries is too great to pass up. I thought I could make a choice, take time off from the story and examine the pros and cons of each possible answer.

But I was wrong.

It turns out that Everbody can never be the same after this, no matter what. Even if I try to take it out, from this point on in his life, Everbody will be affected by his discovery in the bathroom that day, with his pants down around his ankles. That he is too scared, anxious, and self-concious to simply reach out and grasp what he's always wanted. This holds him there, in that bathroom, until he and I can figure out what his next move should be.

Not WILL be. Should be. I'm not going to ruin this for him.

I've got my own life to ru(i)n.