Rewrite: Day 16. He came. He saw. He conquered.

Today, I sent off my short story to The Bath Short Story Competition and I crunched Chapter 9 of the novel but I'm struggling with the dominant point of view in the story, that of the protagonist, Broderick. It should be straightforward but it's not. I can't blame the paper or the pen. I can't blame the computer. The problem is in my brain. 
What did Broderick do? 
He came. He saw. He conquered. 

I went looking for help on the web and here, below, is a summary of some of what I found.  Imagine ...

Life is hard 
A crisis devastates the protagonist’s world
It is a lose-lose situation for the protagonist

The protagonist (Z) is working against the clock
Z walks into trouble
Z works against insurmountable odds 

Z is teased, tested and tempted
Z has too much to handle
Z is run ragged trying to please everyone and keep all the plates in the air
Z is moving towards pleasure and away from pain

Ultimately, up the ante.

Know what the protagonist wants but frustrate its fulfilment
Distract, interrupt and delay
Add conflict, barriers, complications and failure

(OK. I'll see what I can do.)

All this good advice, and much more, can be found at Writers Digest.
In particular,
Nine tricks to writing suspense fiction. Simon Wood. 
How to up the stakes for your main character. Victoria Lynn Schmidt.  

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