Well, I don't know how this would work... but why don't you try shocking them back to life? goofy Start writing the stupidest, most out-of-character stuff you can think of, and see if they don't come running back to set you straight on what they'd really do.

And for me, when the characters get quiet, it's usually because I'm trying to push them where they don't want to go. So I have to review my whole plot to see if there's something off-kilter.

PJ

"You told me you weren't like other men," she said, shaking her head at him when the storm of laughter had passed.
He grinned at her - a goofy, Clark Kent kind of a grin. "I have a gift for understatement."
"You can say that again," she told him.
"I have a...."
"Oh, shut up."

--Stardust, Caroline K