What to Do When Your Character is a Pain in the Ass.

I have this character.  To protect her privacy, I will call her "Jane".  Jane is a pain in my ass.  She rarely does what she's told; in fact, she often does the exact opposite, I assume just to piss me off.  She does not play well with others in my story and often I find her wandering away from the main plot, taking the uncharted path.

Quite frequently I get the attitude from her that I need her more than she needs me, and, to a point, she's right.  I can't just expect any of the other characters to jump right in and take her place: that's not in their job description.  Jane is like an unruly child and she likes to upset the apple cart just to get my attention.  Well, more like set the apple cart on fire, actually.

But what does all this mean?  Am I a bad writer/parent?  Does Jane do these things because I don't give her enough attention?  How can I discipline her?  I can't very well put her in a corner or send her to her room.  Or can I?

There are a variety of things I try to do when Jane gets out of hand.  First, I take a look at my writing.  Has it gotten sloppy?  Lazy?  Overly descriptive?  Sometimes that is the case and I try to correct my mistakes and move on with the story.  Am I giving Jane enough attention?  Sometimes I stray from the plot too much and I do need to be put on the right path.  Other times I find that I give Jane too much attention and it spoils her.  If I find that I am giving her too much attention, I will, in essence, "send her to her room" meaning I veer from the story slightly and do some character building of one of her fellow characters or more background into the plot.

It's a delicate balance trying to raise your characters right.  You hope that you have done all you can to help them grow into mature, complex, and unique individuals.  Sometimes you need to hug them and sometimes you need to bend them over your knee.  Sometimes we worry so much about the plot that we don't stop and consider the feelings and development of our characters.  We gave them life, it is up to us to ensure that they thrive.

Most of my characters are very well behaved, but there's always that one in the bunch...