I have decided that plot construction is an awful lot like that “Lemmings” video game from the 1990s, in that you have to construct scenarios that block off all the sensible-but-undramatic options, so that your characters have an excuse/are forced to Do the Thing and your audience won’t groan at their stupidity and mutter “why don’t you just check in with each other/call the police/leave the house/etc?”