Oh Those Characters!

James has a lot of issues. He's now obsessed with a cabin that he'd tried to forget. He has a mom that he wants to kill. He has a childhood he wants to erase. At first, I was ticked off when I had to rewrite the facts to match what James decided to say and do, something different than I had planned. 

I looked over my outline for my short story, Ebb and Flow, and discovered that James was not following the script. I am the boss in this situation, right? 

Then I had to laugh. Poor damaged James is manipulating me. 

Oh the characters in my head that I put on paper. I wish they'd listen to me... or do I?

If you're a writer does this ever happened to you?  If you're a reader, do you ever wish a story had gone in different direction?

T.