Is "Drama" Actually Interesting?

Genuine question, because I see this advice a LOT in writing groups/craft books and it baffles me. I can’t tell if this is my brain being weird or the advice itself being naff.

The general principle seems to be that if you realise your characters/plot are boring, the solution is to shove random drama in and suddenly your readers will be engaged again.

If the character’s relationship is boring, break them up.

If the character’s work is boring, fire them.

If the character is boring, have someone burst onto the scene and threaten them with a gun.

But why would this catch my interest? If I’m not already engaged with and invested in the character their existence getting whiny is not going to sell me on them. I need you to give me a reason to care enough about this imaginary person to follow them around spying on them.

I need them to be interesting, or funny, or at least pleasant imaginary company. Being held at imaginary gunpoint is not more interesting than riding an imaginary bus. Either could be delightful and gripping reading experiences, but they also might be tedious DNFs.

That doesn’t mean I don’t want fiction to contain suffering, it can be an excellent plot tool. But it’s not inherently intriguing. Is that an empathy/social impulses thing? Do you care for a character the moment they undergo imaginary suffering? Is that enough reason for you to want to follow them around?

As an example of something I’d find interesting:

“Mag!” Bev leapt to her feet to embrace her old friend, and Mag grinned and shifted her weight to her walking stick so she could safely return the hug. In that moment forty years fell away and they were besties meeting up at the start of summer break.

They took their seats, gushing about how charming the cafe was and fussing over choosing their order. Swapping preliminary catch-up check-ins like “How is John?” and “Did your mum get her appointment in the end?”

Then their tea and cakes arrived, signalling that the conversation proper could begin. Mag sat back, peering over her spectacles, and prompted “So, Bev, how’s clown school? Is it everything you dreamed of?”

^This is the point where I’d stop skimming and starting reading. Because I have just encountered an uncommon concept (clown school) and it’s associated with someone I would not expect (an old lady).

Immediately I have questions.

What is clown school like? Is this night classes or boarding school or what? Is she working towards a formal qualification or just gaining skills? What would those skills be?

Additionally, what is Bev like? Why was clown school a “dream” for her? Is this a lifelong dream or something recent?

Questions are engaging. I’m now motivated to follow these imaginary people around because I want answers from them. Even if the questions aren’t pressing and only pique idle curiosity, if I’ve already picked the story up they just need to motivate me to keep reading.

If that bottom paragraph was instead about two men bursting into the cafe with guns, my brain doesn’t conjure a list of questions. It goes “Huh. That’s a thing that could happen, sure.” And then I wait for something interesting to appear.

If the men with guns burst in after Mag asks about clown school I’m going to be annoyed because I want to hear about clown school. Why are you padding this interesting story with such nonsense? Shoo those jokers out and get back to the plot.

Whereas if Mag asks about clown school and then a pair of fish burst into the cafe with guns, I go “Oh. Absurdist setting.” and I’m now less interested in the clown school because we’re in an alien environment. The contrast with the otherwise mundane is what made the concept of clown school intriguing. You could still make the clown school interesting, but you’ll need to work at it because clown school is now just A Thing in a world presumably full of Things.

This goes double if you start your story with drama. If your opening line is people with guns bursting into a cafe, I am not hooked. I’m not even baited. I don’t know any of these imaginary people, so why would I care what’s going on or what happens next?

If your opening line is humans with guns bursting into a cafe full of fish people… alright, I’m in. But be aware that I’m rooting for the fish people, because they’re the ones I want to know more about.

What about you? Do you find drama makes an otherwise boring story engaging, or does it annoy you? Is immediate action a hook or a turn-off?