First time for anything

Another interesting “why” question that really bothers some writers (but not others) is “Why haven’t these characters already solved this problem?” Or, on occasion, “Why hasn’t somebody already solved this problem?”

Story problems that depend on external events frequently have clear and obvious reasons why the characters (or somebody) haven’t solved the problem long before the story ever started: Nobody knew about the problem until Chapter One. The problem didn’t even happen until Chapter Two...