1 - Make your reader root for your main character(s). Make your character stretch out their arm toward their goal, as far as they can reach, until their fingertips can barely brush it. Make your character want something so much that your reader wants it too.
2 - When your character trips and stumbles and stops to question themselves, the reader will hold their breath.
3 - Push your character to their very limit and then further.
4 - When your character hits the bottom, they should scrape themselves back together and get back up. Give a reason to believe in your character.
5 - If your character is challenging your plot, your plot should challenge your character.
6 - Leave a trail of intrigue, of questions of "what if?" and "what next?"
7 - If a character loses something (a battle, an important memento, part of themselves), they must eventually gain something in equal exchange, whether for good or for bad.
8 - Raise the stakes and then raise them higher.
9 - Don't feel pressured to kill a character (especially simply to generate emotional appeal). Character death should serve a plot, not the shock factor. Like anything else in your story, only do it if it must be done and there's no other way around it.
10 - What's the worst that can happen? Make it happen. Just make sure the reader never loses hope.
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