Dunno what breaking a horse feels like, but the first time I broke a story, it felt like cracking an egg. The story broke open and all the good stuff inside was suddenly right there, in plain sight.

Way back in Sept '04, the following quote of mine appear in what was then "CS Daily". "Occasionally, a story will follow you home with just the gentlest of leading. But most have to be hunted down, tied up, and dragged home, kicking and fighting the whole way." – Patrick O'Toole

In the Levine blog post -- "What these characters decide informs us of who they are." I've read elsewhere a similar statement... something along the lines of, character is defined by what they do when their back is against the wall, when they're forced to make a choice. (Maybe this shows up in most good books about writing.) Then there's the old adage, about people in general: "Character is what you do when no one is looking." I chew on that a lot when I'm in development mode. On his blog today, John August touched on plot as distinct from story/characters' choices in his intro to the most recent Scriptnotes podcast, which I've not been able to listen to yet.

I always thought to "break a story" was short for breaking down a story into managable parts.