When a college-dropout new to Montana falls in love with a broke cowgirl, he discovers she?s competing against him for $100,000 at the biggest poetry slam.

Have you thought about framing the story from the cowgirl’s pov? I find her a more interesting ?and sympathetic character because she seems to have ?more motivation to win. The stakes are higher for her: he voluntarily dropped out of college where she didn’t volunteer to be broke. ?He’s got a bar tending job, so at least he’s making ends meet — but she’s broke. ?He voluntarily moved to Montana; ?she’s involuntarily trapped there, trying to get out.

If you want him to be the protagonist, than I suggest you need to give him the more desperate situation, the more compelling motivation. and at least equal stakes to hers. ?Otherwise,?as the story seems to be currently framed, I’m rooting for her to win ?– not him.

(And by stakes, it doesn’t necessarily follow that it’s the same for both because the prize money is the same for both. ?What is at stake is what the money can buy ?a future, the fulfillment of their Biggest Dream. ?Again in comparison to him her dream is framed in starker contrast to the corresponding predicament. ?

If she doesn’t win, she’s trapped in Montana, her Biggest Dream is dead. ?Whereas he’s already demonstrated he has the gumption to move on regardless of his material circumstances — he voluntarily dropped out of college, he voluntarily moved to Montana. ?So it seems like he can voluntarily move on to something else anytime he wants to.

Ergo, the personal stakes, as currently framed, seem bigger for her than for him.)

fwiw