1. Complications

Let's make things complicated.

Every protagonist has a goal.  That means every protagonist has issues, because nothing is ever achieved without defeating obstacles.  In other words, what is a plot when nothing is happening?  Just dialogue, is okay, but every once and a while, something has to go wrong.  Then it wouldn't be much of a story would it?

Whether the complication is internal or external in origin, inner, psychological, private, unprovoked, or public, it adds juice to the story.  You just have to make it happen.  The antagonist can create the problem, or the protagonist itself could make the complication.  A hurricane could sweep through, a mass murder could "randomly" escape from jail, or a journalist twists their life apart.  The simplest way to add an obstacle is to add an antagonist.  Just be sure to make the villain believable.  This can be hard, because most authors are not evil at heart.  But the antagonist must always have "good reason" or motivation! Answer these questions...

-- What is your stories main conflict?

-- What are some main hurdles that can ever-deepen the main problem?

-- For each complication, put a name of a character that will mainly enact in it.  What will he/she do?

-- For each character, work out the main and secondary motives.

Plot problems are obviously needed to be brought about via the action of the characters.  Which one's will enact in which complication?  The up-front choice may not always be the most effective.