Nice Try

Sometimes it helps the pacing, plot, or tension to write a scene where your main character fails.  This can be entertaining to the reader if that failure is an unexpected one.  No, don't write that an expert runner trips over his own feet, or that a chef forgets the main dish and burns it in the oven.

Instead, make the failure something outside the character's control.  The audience will empathize more, because everyone has had a day where nothing seemed to go right for them.

In the prompt below, write up an unusual way for the main character to make a mistake.  Have fun, and keep writing!

Prompt: Nice Try

She should have known better than to get so close, but it seemed like a simple enough task.  Janine climbed deeper into the giant engine, prying back flaps and twisting off lids, looking for the elusive problem.  When people brought this kind of vehicle in, the trouble could only be one of a few things - but so far, every area she checked was in perfect operating condition.  Maybe it was...