Back when I was writing screenplays, an agent told me that he loved my dialogue and my scene descriptions, that I was in many ways a really talented writer. Then he went on to add this little but: “Do you by any chance avoid conflict in your personal life, because you sure avoided it in this screenplay.”

He nailed it. I loathe conflict. When someone gets angry with me, I shrivel. I try to bridge whatever troubles exist between us by whatever means possible. Unfortunately, I have that same tendency in my writing, squirming the minute characters get in trouble. My instinct is to end scenes at precisely the point things heat up. The point, that is, where they get interesting.