Well, from my experience with shots including lightning, I would do one of the following instead of using Mayas Lightning effect:

1. do it in POST!

In post, you have way more control over position and look.
It is pretty much a safe bet that anything that needs glow, it would be better, and more controllable in post.

2. Create a curve between your lightning start and end points/objects, and attach one of the many lightning Paint FX brushes, and control it from there


Also, from the docs regarding the lightning effect:

Light Intensity:
When you create lightning, a light at the center of the lightning is also created, which casts light on surrounding objects. The default intensity of the light is based on the Glow Intensity attribute, and the difference between the Lightning Start and the Lightning End attributes. The Light Intensity attribute multiplies this default intensity. Increase the value of Light Intensity to increase the lighting of the surrounding objects.


Adjust the lightning shader:
In the lightning shader, Color, Incandescence, and Glow Intensity are set by the lightning attributes and cannot be changed in the shader.
You can adjust the other shader attributes.