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It’s really smart the way you’ve linked character with plot — I think that’s very wise. Often people treat them quite separately and yet, they are intrinsically linked.

To me, your job as a writer is to figure out how to get the most interesting stuff to happen to your protagonist AND your antagonist AND your secondary characters — and then somehow make that into a plot. So you want to start by brainstorming the interesting stuff — the “wouldn’t it be amazing if” and also the “okay, so the antagonist is going to do this and wow, if they do that then THIS person is going to be in the middle” or “and what does SHE think of what’s going on and what will she do?” Play things through. Let yourself have the crazy idea and see where it goes.

This is often the part where I find it useful to talk through my story with other people because they’re likely to point out all those angles that I’m not considering. Don’t just consider the protagonist and the antagonist — each of their relationships with other people can actually wind up bringing pressure to bear on the main characters too.

Ask yourself where the line that your protagonist never thought he/she would cross is and figure out a way to make them have to cross it.

Ask yourself if there’s a faster way for the antagonist to get what he/she wants and make sure there’s a reason why the person doesn’t do that?

Plan some surprises. What doesn’t the protagonist know? What doesn’t the antagonist know? What’s the protagonist’s secret? What’s the antagonist’s secret? What’s the secondary character’s secret? What might someone suspect would be true about the antagonist, but isn’t? What might someone assume to be true about the protagonist, but isn’t? What have each of them assumed about one another?

(Not all of these might yield good answers, but some might!)

Hmmm, the wind is really picking up here. Not sure how much longer my power will be on…