Pam reminded me of something. She was talking about shepherding and nudging and suchlike. Letting L&C and whomever else run free while still doing your best to get the story to go where you want.
Well, there's one technique I've found to do it. Sort of a technique. More of a way of thinking, I guess. You have to let Lois, Clark, and all the others have free will. They have to be able to do things their own way. Be themselves. You can still get them to do what you want, however, by manipulating the circumstances around them. You may not control them, but you are in charge of the rest of their universe. Use a carrot, a stick, a shiny ball. Whatever you need. Just bring it into existance.
Need Lois to leave the Fudge Castle and head over to Vanilla City? She'd never do it on her own. If, however, someone suspicious and perhaps vaguely familiar was to walk by outside the window, looking like a story waiting to happen, and if that person just happened to walk into Vanilla City, well...
I mean, we've all done it with Clark at one point or another. Need him out of town? Need him to abandon Lois in a time of crisis? No problem. That flooding over in India looks like a job for Superman. Countless lives are depending on him, and it's going to take a while...
Sometimes, you can be a lot more subtle than that, but the principle is the same. Don't force them to do things your way. Change their universe so that they want to do it your way. Trick 'em into thinking it's their idea. Those of you who are also parents probably have a few other tricks. Bribery ("There's a big, fat, juicy story in it for you, Lois... Come on, you know you want to..."), reverse psychology ("Okay, sure, Clark. You just stay here and say all that to Lois and ruin any chance of the two of you ever being together. If that's really what you want, you just do it. No skin off my nose..."), punishment ("Fine, Lois. You want to be that way? Sure. But as long as you keep this up, the Fudge Castle is closed for repairs..."), parental authority (i.e. invoking the Wrath of Perry), whatever it takes.
Okay, so maybe it doesn't work exactly like that, but I think you get the idea. Right?
Paul
