Paul, I found your comment interesting,
Don't force them to do things your way. Change their universe so that they want to do it your way,
because that's the way I treat all my characters. In fact, I see that as the function of a writer. I create characters first, characters who are real enough to make decisions and choices that don't just reflect me (or in the case of L&C, use very real characters who are already provided). Then I decide where they start and where I want them to end up (for example, emotion A here, and emotion B, 180 degrees removed, there). Then I decide what external influences will impact them in such a way that they will be driven where I want them to be. That's the plot.
So, do they ever get away from me? Rarely. Once, I chose a means of reaching the ending point that made Clark do the opposite of what I wanted, so I had to change the inciting incident. In Faster Than a Speeding Bullet, I originally had him remember all the events that occurred in the future--in order to make him realize that raising a child
was a possibility, even in a superhero's uncertain life. However, he was utterly miserable and in such desperate pain over wiping out his son that he refused to have any children because the pain of their loss would be too great, which was exactly the opposite effect that I wanted. So I erased his memory, and the story worked out the way I wanted.
Other than that? Sometimes characters are slower to react than I had planned, but that isn't a big deal. After all, I'm God--to my characters, anyway. I know them better than they know themselves, so I just bring in an event or conversation to hurry them up a bit or move them back on track. Or since I'm a very fallible God who doesn't have everything perfectly worked out beforehand, I go back in time (God, after all, moves freely through time
) and change an earlier event so they react the way I want or so someone can give L&C the information necessary to solve the crime.
A long time ago, I read something about how growth only occurs as a response to stress or some kind of external force, so I use that in the way I handle my characters. If I want them to change their feelings, attitudes, or behavior, I have to create a series of external events that move them out of their comfort zone and start them on the road to change. So I spend an awful lot of my writing time staring out the window, thinking of what will make my characters react in the desired way. It means I write slowly, but, boy, it's a kick to play God.
