Writing touching scenes: is it so hard?

I was taking a walk through a park with a friend the other day and I saw a guy warming up for figure skating. This is nothing unusual—if you live in any big city, you’ll be familiar with people who gather in parks or other open spaces to show off their moves and practice skating, break-dancing or even martial arts.

If it’s such an everyday thing, it begs the question: why did I stop to stare open-mouthed, forgot about my speech mid-sentence, and kept thinking about him for the next few days?

It...