Sometimes, when you're writing, you'll have moments where aspects of the story unfold before you've even gotten to those points. You don't question it, because it just makes sense, and feels like the right direction for the story to go. It feels less like you're the one in control of the story, and more like the characters themselves are taking over certain sections for you, but you roll with it. It's how relationships develop between characters, it's how they solve their own problems, it's how they find their endings. It feels natural.
But sometimes, these little trails the characters are blazing ahead of you make you stop and ask, "Wait, where are you going with this? Why are we going the wrong way?"
I have two side characters in my story who I absolutely adore, and have wanted to develop together, but I kept having to put it off because I couldn't figure out where to go to get them the happy ending I wanted for them. So I figured I'd wait and see where they decided to take me on their own, as many of my characters have in the past.
Turns out, one of them is going to kill the other. It'll be purely unintentional, and accidental, but it will be sudden, and violent, and with no warning or redemption. And there's nothing I, even as the writer, can do about it, because even with all of the love I have for these characters— especially the one who meets her end here— this is the only ending that makes sense. I guess somewhere, in the back of my head, I've known it was going that route for a while.
I lost sleep over it last night. I haven't been able to touch the story since. Every time I see the one character's name I get a knot in my stomach, because my perception of him as a character is skewed now and I don't know how to write past that— I feel like I've been betrayed by something that should have been under my complete control.
Why would you do that to her? Why would decide that that's where you wanted to go?
I'm too overly attached to these characters. Where's my inner George R. R. Martin to get me through this?