... yep, that's the situation I'm in with all three of my current WIPs. Hence the total lack of update for any of them.
I know I'm the author, and I can direct how I want the story to go - but in each of these cases, I also know how the story should go. Writing light fluffy stuff is all very well, but this next chapter has to be hard - because that's the way the story went. (Past tense intentional - I'm already onto chapter 5 in my head, and I know full well that I can't get there without going through chapter 4, and that the bad stuff in chapter 4 has, effectively, already happened.)
It's very strange to be the director of all this, and yet not be in charge; and I think my subconscious is rebelling to that. Either that, or it really is not wanting to hurt the poor characters. Or myself. A couple of weeks ago, I was in the middle of one of the character's mental breakdown, and had to forcibly wrench my own brain out of the mindset. Scary how easy it would be to get sucked in like that.
Hmm.
And on my friends list today, this piece by Papersky fits my mood.