Evanovich’s problem is that her characters never learn from their mistakes. Go back to your writing and make sure that your characters actually move forward and develop in a realistic fashion–for the better OR the worse.

In the vein of Dresden, disguise something magical in the everyday. Brownies with a cleaning service? Unicorns at the zoo? Go as big as you can.

Take a deity, and for funsies, pick a relatively unknown one. What is it doing today? What kind of job does he/she have?

Characters that have lived together for a long time have set routines and expectations. Set those up for us, then shatter them with an unexpected scenario!

Sometimes what can seem like the universe messing with you turns out to be in your benefit. Screw over one of your characters and then have them turn those lemons into lemonade!

Your character can see into the future, but only by about five minutes. What do they do with this and how do they handle it?

Jasper Fforde delights in twisting fairy tales and children’s rhymes to nefarious purposes. Twist one of your own.

Every character has a backstory, and, in particular, some event that had a huge impact on them. Go back and explore that story, and how it changed them.