October Novel Prep Challenge

This is sort of coming out of nowhere, but it's a problem I often encounter, and I'd love to hear other thoughts on it. When I was in college, I traveled to attend a writing conference with one of my creative writing classes, and I had a chance to attend a workshop where an author talked about dynamic characters, how they should always be doing. A character who is not doing, she said, is not in a story. It's merely a drawling (if illuminating) monologue.

So I've been thinking a lot about that, especially since it's a huge problem I face. I love digging into my characters so much that they could just be sitting by a pool while I tinkered around in their heads, and I'd be pretty happy. But the writer was right: that's not a story.

That isn't to say that we always need explosions or assassination plots or ticking time-bombs, but there should never be a point in the story where the characters aren't mentally or physically moving toward something. Even if they're completely directionless and lost, they should be moving toward something--toward failure, toward the willingness to act, toward anything. If the characters and plot aren't dynamic, the story stagnates. No one wants a stagnant story.

My problem is this: When I'm writing, I often ride over the hump of one minor conflict or climax, and then my characters are twiddling their thumbs, waiting for the next big thing to happen. I hate writing it, my characters hate experiencing it, readers hate reading it, and eventually I give up, decide that all the things I write are boring, the plot developments forced and brittle, the story itself rickety and unworthy of conclusion.

And, uh... that's a big problem.

I try to introduce plots and continuing subplots that keep readers moving forward, even if all the characters can do is pace restlessly. Something (physical or mental, real or imagined) should be moving toward or away from them, creating a sense of urgency, a need for action.

Theoretically, I understand all of this.

In practice, it's hard to do.

SO. An application question: (A.K.A HELP ME, PLEASE!)

Outline-wise, I'll start my novel off at a good pace, using in medias res to throw readers into the event that changes everything, and for a short while after that (hopefully about 10,000 words), my main character will be running, trying to escape. The first "disaster" will be his capture.

The problem is what come next. Passivity and stagnation are basically forced on him: he's basically imprisoned in a compound for people like him, where he can't escape or do anything particularly meaningful. He's fed and clothed and treated ridiculously well while they train him. The only possibility of harm is damage to his dignity (or maybe getting roughed up by he irritates). His movements are monitored, and almost everyone handles him with kid gloves. The only real conflict will be the growing antagonism between him and another major character who works in the compound. Eventually they'll get thrown together on the battlefield and things will start happening again.

But how can I make the section of the story that takes place in the compound exciting? I haven't even started writing, and I'm already dreading it.

Any ideas on how to make this bit interesting?