The Proactivity Trap

I have a problem with my books and writing style, one I'm increasingly aware of:  As much as I do m best to start with entertainment, there is very little tension early on.  The sense of threat and plot can take as long as halfway through the book to appear.  I work on it, but I never seem to solve the problem.

And now I've figured out why.  My characters are proactive.  Think about it.  That's rare.  In most books, things happen to the main character and they struggle to get out.  Monsters invade, a woman in a red dress shows up and hires them to investigate her own murder, some hairy guy breaks down the door and announces they're a wizard - the main character or the hairy guy, either way - and so on.

I like main characters with strong personalities, and aspirational characters.  They go looking for trouble.  They act.  That means there has to be build up time, especially if I'm going to get a relatable teenager into exotic trouble like super powers or angry AIs.

For now, I think I'm stuck with this problem, but I'm trying to learn to compensate and introduce some early tension to keep things running until the real trouble begins.  I'm happy with how I pulled that off with Vanity Rose, at least.