More thoughts on forcing vs. pushing through

On my last post, I asked: "What's the difference between forcing something that isn't there, and pushing for something that is there but is just difficult to get to?"

Your answers gave me some insight!

tracy_d74   pointed out the difference in author and character motivation: "I ask myself, what would this character want or what would they do ..." And I thought, Of course. If the author is intruding, trying to plant something in a top-down way instead of letting it rise organically from the char...