Oh, I just had another thought. Do you think it might help if I sent you an annotated version of one of my introductory scenes, explaining how I built it? Because, whereas you start a scene with A (goal), B (pacing), C (structure), D (character), and F ("the feel") - with E being the missing element - I may start my first scene with as little as A (main characters) and B (conflict). I have to build practically everything from scratch when I start writing that first scene. So somewhere in my building of the scene must be your missing element.