More on plot--making it GO

I've been busy working on a revision this long time, but while I haven't been posting, I hope I've been learning. A few more ideas to add to the plot development theme:

1. Your characters need to come to conclusions as they go to help guide the reader and show that things are moving along. They also need to have a plan for what next. But, even more important than them planning to do things is to actually show them doing them! Instead of having your character's action be, make a plan to do X, let them be impulsive and just jump in and DO X.

2. Don't be afraid to reveal and resolve. Each time you do this, instead of bursting the bubble of tension you've created, you should actually be opening the way to further tension and complications from the results of the revelation. This should go until the climax, which should result in ultimately solving the problem of the novel. The middle is where mini-resolutions or mini-climaxes stack on top of each other until you can't go anywhere BUT to the climax. It's not a waiting room until the climax room is available.