Return to Tangent's Shared Notes
(I am currently in danger of becoming homeless. If you can spare a few dollars, it would help a lot. PayPal.me/Guard13007)
Leave threads unfinished as disparate scenes are written chapter to chapter, then seal them together with conclusions. An effective example of this is in Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. These threads should be closed in the reverse order they were opened, when possible. (If a reader starts with romance, they expect that to be in the ending.) It is also important to keep your promises. If something is set up to go a certain way, it should go that way, not leave you hanging. (Out of the Dark fails at this by not actually diving into the parallels between an alien invasion and the USA's invasion of the middle east.)
(I believe this is structure easiest to fall into, especially with serialized works, and is what I have primarily written - excepting, of course, oneshots.)
Consider including "Easter eggs" - teasers for later, hidden symbolism, Chekhov's guns..
Examples: