Heroes

You've probably all heard this one before.  Make different heroes.

Seriously though, make different types of heroes.

Make a hero who failed once and spends the rest of the story trying to make up for that failure.  Make a hero who doesn't realize that she's a hero until she does something heroic.  Make a hero who thinks she's a hero and realizes that she needs help.  Make a hero who wants to be a hero, but doesn't know how to become one.

Explore the idea of a bad guy who's the hero of they're story.  Or just a poor kid who wants something, but it seems like the whole universe is out to stop him from getting it.  Make book-smart heroes, make street-smart heroes. Make noble heroes who overcome their flaws.  Make silly heroes and sarcastic heroes.  Make headstrong heroes, or heroes that seem really quiet but have got it where it counts.  What about a hero who starts out as a villain and realizes the error of their ways?

Sure, you've probably seen most of these heroes before, I just flattened basic tropes and wrote them all out.  But it boils down to making interesting people, not just heroes.  Make the hero of your story someone that your readers can relate to, or perhaps strive to be.  Or someone you strive to be.

Also, don't just make your protagonist interesting, make his friends interesting too.  What's his sister like? What's his dad like? What's his friend like? Say your protagonist doesn't make some smart choices at the beginning of the story... who tells her off? Her boyfriend? Her best friend? Her enemy? Think about making more than just your protagonist well-rounded.  I'm not saying to make every single character well-rounded, that could be hard if you have a lot of characters that you're dealing with (say, in a high school or something--you're not actually going to figure out what all 400 people of the graduating class are like...) but make the memorable characters...memorable! Make your villains more well-rounded too.  It makes them interesting.  They may think they're heroes, too.