I’m working on a story that is being difficult.

One of the characters is a Junior (third year) at Dolcett University(*). He was caught cheating in an exercise and will therefore automatically fail the class. Normally this would mean he could take his choice out several different execution methods, but the Professor has told him to choose between waterboarding and a longdrop hanging.

And I can hear him dithering in my head. On one hand, the longdrop, ending in a broken neck, is considered a coward’s way out. On the other hand, he is horribly afraid of drowning (which is why he cheated in the exercise).

If he chooses the longdrop, it will all be over in a second. But it is not only déclassé, it is about as sexually uninteresting as he can imagine. If he chooses waterboarding, he could probably get a coed to fellate him while he suffocates. But he might be too afraid to even get hard, much less enjoy her ministrations.

And he just refuses to make up his mind.

Maybe I should rewrite the professor’s note to take away the option and just longdrop him in the Quad.

What do people think?

(*) A college that teaches sexual asphyxiation, beheading, and other forms of snuff