But...once again I have run into a fundamental plot problem that puts me on such shaky ground that writing the last four chapters would probably not work. (So what my dad essentially said was, this thing you did in chapter 16 is so bad that I would stop reading...at least he was honest. ) I have rewritten this novel so many times, and now it seems apparent that I have to address this point and rewrite it again. (Well a couple early chapters can stay, but from about chapter 5...)

There are two aspects to telling a story, the writing and the story itself. After chapter 16 it seems obvious that my writing is fine (needs some polishing but fine). But it seems my story has completely failed.

But if it's just something inherent in chapter 16, some individual plot aspect, that shouldn't involve as drastic a rewrite.

Return of the Jedi, the Emperor's throne scene. Luke has said that he will not fight his father. Lucas needs him to get really angry and cut off Vader's hand. They are going to have to film that scene soon, and right now there is just no plausible reason for Luke to change his mind and come after Vader.

If he just hops out of hiding and cuts off Vader's hand after that whole "I won't fight you" spiel, then he's a jerk. But if he doesn't jump out, then the scene can't be completed.

Luckily, Vader also is trying to get Luke to come out and fight, and he hits on the perfect motive for Luke. "So, you have a twin sister. If you will not turn, then perhaps she will"

Luke yells "NO!!!" comes after Vader, great scene. We know he's about to turn to the dark side, but we feel sympathy for him all the same. After all, we would have jumped out and started whacking the guy too (for some reason, this didn't work as well with Anikin in the last movie).

You might simply need to find a motive strong enough to overcome our horror at what the character does. Alternatively, you could have the character be so horrified by what he's doing that we understand that he must not have had any alternative...but then, that might not work if he obviously does have an alternative (one that is less horrifying, of course).

My main character lives in a society with a hands on god. In other words, he appears to the people and commands them from time to time. He has commanded her to perform a human sacrifice. Her alternative to going through with it is probably to die, although she does not know exactly what happens to the people who fail this god and vanish into thin air. I do take a great amount of time trying to explain how repulsed she is by this prospect, most of the chapter is a battle of conscience and how can I do this even if God asks me to? She sees someone else disappear and is frightened...yadda yadda yadda

Now, I do only have one reader and he has had trouble identifying with my character from the start. (A fifty five year old man trying to understand a teenaged girl; it was possibly a bad choice of readers but beggars can't be choosers )

In fact, the more I think about it the more I am torn between the possibility that this is a valid plot move that I am inept to describe in such a way as to make it acceptable and the possibility that it is a bad place to take the plot at all. But taking this scene out will require rethinking an entire society, and redoing my main character's development from early on.

But I desist, I am rambling.

See, when Anikin wipes out that village of sand people, he's only acting out of rage. There is no positive reason for him to do it, it isn't to save his mother or honor her memory or anything like that, and he knows it and we know it.

On the other hand, when Luke strikes out at Vader, he's angry (which has confused his thinking) but he's also mainly motivated by a desire to save his sister. So he has a good motive for an action that is clearly bad.

So I would get away from having her think that she might die at all. What you need is some way of plausibly showing that when people disobey this god of yours, they clearly end up having been wrong and the god right. And that's what she's thinking when she goes through with it. Have her motivated by seeing someone else disobey the god's command on something and then have her witness some tragic result of this disobedience (aside from the whole 'pouf' thing).

But as she commits her murder she is acting primarily out of fear of silf-annihilation. I guess what I had been thinking is that frnakly, this is something a normal person would do whether they would want to admit it or not, but exposing people to their darker sides does not create sympathy for a character.

Christine, having your protagonist commit human sacrifice is something that will make it difficult for the reader to remain sympathetic. But it is not impossible, so I wouldn't give up on it.

No offense to your father, but I think most readers would not stop reading the book because of what your character did. What would cause them to stop reading the book would be if they don't believe your character would really do that. So you need to have her rationalize her decision to the point that she convinces herself she is doing the right thing. These other reasons give the reader a way to believe a good character would do a bad thing.

And then, after she's done it and the consequences sink in, she starts to wonder whether her rationalizations were the real reasons, or whether it was her fear of death that was the primary reason. And when she realizes her own cowardice, and loathes herself for what she has done, the reader feels sympathy toward her for having such a reaction.

It's basically a matter of trying to decide which is the lesser of two terrible evils, and not feeling at all justified no matter which one the character ends up choosing.