It's all in the details

Have you ever noticed that the things most intriguing in books are the little touches that set them apart from their competition? So, you have a story about a shape-shifting Japanese computer geek who turns into a world-saving Tyrannosaurus Rex with a love of human kind? Mundane. See it every day.

But how about a geek who does that and he's also afraid of reptiles? Or he doesn't know how to swim? By tweaking the story just a little bit more, people go, wait a minute, why is he afraid of the reptiles/water?

Now you add backstory through dialogue and action:

Asako Natsu(assistant to the mild mannered computer programmer) wrung her hands with worry. "The ambassador has been kidnapped by the evil sorcerer and is being held in an underground computer lab. He will be forced to give the wizard the password to our new computer game, 'Dragon Breath.'"

She crossed the office and laid her hand on Zinan Tomi's shoulder. "Do you know where Super Rex has gone? We need his help. He can swim to the lab and blast open the door with one super sonic pull of huge teeth, freeing the ambassador."

Zinan began to tremble. Fears of almost drowning in his bathtub as a child washed over him in waves.

Well, you get the point. Always put interesting tidbits of fact in your book that will detonate near the end and make it more interesting.

Now to go write about my miniature dragon, Cinder falling in love with the Lake Tahoe sea serpent, Tessie, who is really a male named Torrence, a lean seven hundred fifty pounds monster who fights against evil.