Okay, I've figured out my conflict.  And I get why I have such problems writing a query.  I don't yet know how to write the query, but I know what the query needs to say, at least crudely.  It needs to read like this.


This X thing is the surface conflict.  
THe real conflict is Y, complicated by PRST.  (I'm still working on the latter half of the concept.)
So, there's a deus ex machina, except it's literal and not out of thin air.
(Segue to hot theme thing.)


I mean, the above is complete and utter crap.  But it's the concept I'm working on, and that really is my hangup.  There's a surface conflict, and then there's the real conflict.  The ACTUAL story is very simple: X is lost and can't find Z without taking over Y, but X can't take over Y, and meanwhile Y wants to kill X. Z saves X, and now X is not lost, but there's a cost.

Okay, that makes no sense either, but now I am thinking of using algebra to figure out the conflict.  Or maybe Logic.  Venn diagrams, anyone?

I am seeing a text-only Curio page full of Xs and Ys and Zs.  But first, the kitchen, the bed, and the laundry.