Tip #337: Ratchet up the suspense

Plot is simply the actions the characters take, the results of their action, and what they decide to do next. Except this can’t be any old action and result. It has to be action and result that builds the anxiety of suspense, surprise, and the mystery or puzzle...

There are four possible answers to the question of “did the hero’s action solve the problem?”: yes, no, yes but, no furthermore.

For example. Yes, you killed the monster. No, you didn’t. Yes, you killed the monster, but it bit you and now you have the virus that’s going to turn YOU into a monster. No, you didn’t kill the monster furthermore you woke up its mumma.

Of those four possiblities, only the last two build suspense and curiosity. The first removes it totally. So it’s out{ except at the end}. And a no answer leaves suspense unchanged. All you’re doing is delaying things with that. What you want to do is ratchet it up.

http://johndbrown.com/2008/12/plot-basics/

Tip #335: Creating internal conflicts

pick a word that describes your character. For example: He’s compassionate. Then find another word that can also describe your character, but make it a polar opposite—terrorist... Giving a character a dual nature creates an instability, a lack of balance, that probably can’t stay forever.

http://www.davidfarland.com/writing_tips/?a=281

Tip #329: Using characters' desires to create character arcs

How far will that character go to fulfil their desires? Will he sacrifice the life of a member of his family to stay alive? Will she sacrifice her own life to kill him?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/crime-writing-competition/10159834/Telegraph-Harvill-Secker-Crime-Writing-Competition-masterclass-Stuart-Neville-on-plot.html

Quote taken from video so may not be word perfect.

Character arcs often build up to this question.  It's something we often grapple with daily: how far will we go to satisfy our desire for calorie-rich food?  Will we sacrifice our spare change/diet/figure/health/self-respect/love?  Where is the point when one desire battles with another and we start to question if the original driving desire is worth it?  Where is the point when we decide YES, it's worth it, or NO, it's not?  And what are the consequences of this decision?

The main character arc in Star Wars IV is different.  It's about Luke learning to believe in the Force (and therefore himself) culminating in his choice to trust it (and his own judgement) for a vitally important gamble (and foreshadowing the same decision in Star Wars VI).  But Han Solo has a desire character arc, discovering offscreen he can't abandon his friends in their attempt to destroy the Death Star -- even for money/long life.

Tip #319: Obstacles

Brick walls are not there to keep us out. Brick walls are there to show how badly we want something.

– Randy Pausch (found here)

Or how badly our characters want something.  What are your characters' brick walls?

Tip #289: Reader empathy

It has to matter to {the protagonist}, or it won’t matter to {the reader}.

http://www.stinalindenblatt.com/2012/10/writerly-quotes-tension.html

Tip #283: Plot is not optional

literary fiction must also have a plot. The only difference between commercial fiction and literary fiction is that the character arc takes precedence and plot is of lesser importance

Given Example:

in The Road by Cormac McCarthy, there is a plot. Man and Boy must make it to the sea. But it is more important HOW they make it than IF they make it. If the Man and Boy resort to cannibalism, that is an epic fail. They must make it to the sea, but without sacrificing their humanity.

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/great-characters-the-beating-heart-of-great-fiction/

Tip #279: Protag, meet antag

Far too often, I read about characters who should get together and they never do. For example, are you writing about a serial killer, and your detective never meets him before the climax? Boring. It’s much more interesting to get them together early on.

The same often happens in epic fantasy, where a young hero face a godlike foe that he never sees. Figure out how to put them together

http://www.davidfarland.net/writing_tips/?a=135

Tip #236: The goal is not enough

The carefully-constructed goals you have concocted for your character are, sadly, meaningless… UNLESS they are paired with a compelling antagonist...

goal + obstacle => empathy

http://www.sfwa.org/2012/02/guest-post-whats-wrong-with-the-cheesecake-a-brief-introduction-to-antagonists/

Tip #226: Character tension

an incompatibility between characters that is acknowledged, but not acted upon.

Given example:

In the Sherlock Holmes novels, the famous detective was known to take opium on occasion, but his sidekick Dr. Watson frowned upon such activities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_(narrative)

Tip #214: Psychology of reaction

{When} something happens to a person... that person... has to decide WHY it happened. That decision is completely critical to how the person ends up feeling--and responding--to the event.

http://thestrangestsituation.blogspot.com/2012/01/awesomeness-of-attributions.html

Tip #212: Mistakes

Stories are often about men and

women who make mistakes and take action based on those mistakes. Then they realize those mistakes, and they must come to terms with the consequences.

in the end.. it’s more as a reward for the knowledge they gain through the mistakes

http://www.cherylklein.com/id18.html

Tip #206: The protagonist's allies

By choosing the characters surrounding the protagonist carefully to represent extreme choices related to the key conflict, you can turn a story from enjoyable but forgettable to an enjoyable story which shows how men and women live their lives, and the choices they have to make.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBWEf7TCOi8

Elizabeth Bennet is surrounded by different examples of marriage (probably the biggest choice she and women of the time would ever make): her father and silly mother, her sensible aunt and uncle, her practical friend Charlotte and silly Mr Collins, good-hearted Jane and Mr Bingley (and his married sister and her husband who - in the BBC drama - don't seem to have anything in common), silly Lydia and self-centered Mr Wickham.  Austen doesn't really explore spinsterhood, but there are Charlotte and Miss Bingley, both of whom wish to be married.

Tip #195: Complicating things

There have to be (at least) two things going on {in each scene/story} that can play off against each other, inform each other, head off and rejoin each other, twist around and complicate.

http://patricksamphire.blogspot.com/2012/01/complicating-things.html

Tip #125: Change

Change. Most of us fear it in life, but we crave it in fiction.

http://www.graspingforthewind.com/2011/05/02/guest-post-building-character-by-jon-sprunk/

Tip #114: Behind the flaw

Perhaps...

your character has a major flaw that came about as a defense mechanism to protect himself from his deepest fear, but he is also driven by a need that causes him to make plans (plot!) to achieve his goal

http://www.routinesforwriters.com/2011/04/20/character-builds-plot-builds-character/

i.e. That fear you're going to make your character face? How does it affect his/her behaviour?  The conflict between need and fear is compelling: we've all been there.

Tip #108: Reader assumptions

a good writer will use an audience’s innate desire to fill gaps in knowledge to trick them with their own assumptions.

http://writeanything.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/subtext-the-most-critical-tool-in-the-story-teller%E2%80%99s-box/

Tip #103: Why today?

Why this day out of your character’s life rather than all the other days? And the answer, it’s always Because this is the day that’s breaking the rhythm, the day that’s an aberrance, the day everything can change, if the character can just walk that tightrope to the last page.

http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/7+Things+Ive+Learned+So+Far+By+Stephen+Graham+Jones.aspx

Tip #96: Resolving conflicts

I tended to resolve... conflicts too early and too easily. Because my characters lived in the imaginary world inside my head, the conflict they experienced made me uncomfortable, and I wanted to relieve them of this discomfort. Tension and {character} frustration, however, keeps readers turning pages.

http://writerunboxed.com/2011/03/14/tough-lessons-from-a-debut-novelist-part-1/

Tip #69: Men actually like romance...

Men actually like romance...To be specific, men like the dynamic.  Men like seeing how it matures and how it evolves and how they eventually get together...  It’s a story, same as seeing how the hero overcomes the forces of evil.

http://samsykes.com/2011/01/sam-sykes-touches-men-and-women/
{Paraphrased:} and a story where one or both of the characters are passive isn't terribly interesting.

Tip #68: Filling the middle

1.       Who is trying to hinder/stop your protagonist(s)?  Do any of them team up/hire help? 
2.       Who is trying to help your protagonist(s)?  How?  Why?  How can it backfire?
3.       Are there any items/skills/strengths (emotional or physical) that they need to gain (or things they need to do/see/learn/events to set in motion) in order to complete their quest?
4.       Any “natural” obstacles? (setting-related problems, although these can be aggravated by things/people related to the plot)
5.       Any “higher powers” testing them? (Gods, politicians, bankers, mad magicians?)

H. R. Filmore's Reminders to Self, June 2009.