Even if you’re a writer who is not a plotter, even if you don’t follow an outline, there may come a time when your story tilts to try and separate you from your keyboard. A character may rebel and refuse to do the thing you want her to. An issue may force itself to the surface before you had planned for it to. An event may intrude upon your timeline. When the story tries to take over, even the best writer has been known to shout, ‘No!’ It’s too (fill in the blank): impetuous, dangerous, fast. It’s too much! I mean, they’re your characters. You created them. They have to do what you say.
Hahahahaha. How does that work for you in real life? Don’t people tend to rebel when you try to boss them around? Characters are people too.
So take it as a sign. (A good one!) Your characters have come to life. Your story world is real. Your effort has achieved a weird sort of alchemy. If it unsettles you, if it raises the hair at the back of your neck, if it makes you want to gather your characters up so nothing bad will ever happen to them again, then it will do the same to your reader. As odd as it seems, it’s always a good rule to write what you, ‘No!’