If you have never read The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith and you're planning to read them, the following contains sort-of-but-not-really-spoilers.
These spoilers will not tell you who lives or dies or anything except a bit of setting and an inconsequential section of the plot of the way-later book they happen in, but...wait, were you reading these books to be shocked by the plot? Really?
[KIND OF BUT NOT REALLY SPOILERS]
In the nth book, some people are in another dimension trying to organize a jail break. They are surrounded by vampires and demons and Japanese fox-thingies and damned souls. There is political and social and economic turmoil all around them. People are dying and being enslaved. The characters themselves are having near-death experiences constantly. So what does the author spend maybe twenty pages on?
The characters' intricate, pretty, non-combat-oriented clothing and makeup for a party.
Why? Because when you're going into a hellish alternate dimension to save your dying friend, your central focus is always whether or not you are dressed stylishly enough for a gala that is attended mainly by demons. (I am not exaggerating; the MC worries about this for more than a page.)
[END SPOILERS]
I am challenging you to give characters a big, important goal, and then make them focus on something completely inappropriate to the situation. Why are they worried about their clothes/lunch/windshield cleanliness/secret-Santa gift choice/allergies when something really important is going down?
I hope you have fun with this.
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