Short Story experimenting

So I've decided to be cerebral and experimental (experimental for me, that is) about the short story I'm going to write. I've already got a premise, a beginning, an ending and one key middle event. Translating character development into event is the hard part. While reading Arthur C. Clarke's short stories, I noticed that a lot of them were basically explorations of a single emotion, in his case, wonder (at the space age), the yearning for freedom, etc..

What I've decided to do is brainstorm images and situations that evoke the particular emotion I'm dealing with, then use them to weave a story. Whether it will work, or I'll end up drowning in my own imagery, is unknown. But right now, when I try to write a short story, I stare and stare and stare at the screen while nothing happens. When The Devil's Gift popped out as soon as I heard about an anthology it would work for, I thought I'd never have problems again. Turns out that one was a fluke. >:(