Yes, we've got Trouble.

So where are we at? I was thinking of what I was going to say here last night, but that's gone. Typical. Here's where the story's at. I'm having a problem reconciling the way I want things to be in the story with the way things are. I'm having a hard time thinking of any justification for the behaviors of the characters that doesn't involve magic. I think that that might be cheating since my story is set in a non-magical world. A problem is that I'm finding that my underlying problem is going to be left not completely revealed, and without revealing that, I don't have a central conflict to resolve. In fact, you might say the novel is a big mess without a true center. It really, really is no good. The 2-dimensional characters don't develop and some storylines are left behind for chapters before being brought out again for no good reason. Awful.

I've painted myself into a corner, and I don't know what I'm going to do. I've got to have some brilliant idea to drive myself to the ending, which has yet to reveal itself to me.