Two creative writing techniques I observed from reading:

Objective writing:

Choose a goal of a particular scene or event in the story, and challenge yourself to write convincing plot events that allow the story to reach the target state.

For instance in Worm, it seems like the author Wildbow is often allowing a threat to loom against the protagonists, and then challenging himself to help the protagonists overcome the threat.

Since it was released serially, he wouldn't have a precise plan of how the story will unfold, but it seems like this could be useful for traditional writing too.

I also got this impression from how Wildbow claimed he used randomisation to determine the fate of characters in an early part of the story, and it was even possible for the protagonist to die and the story's focus to shift to a new character (this contains spoilers for Worm, if you aren't sure then don't click this).

It seems like he treated the process of building a story as a puzzle to solve, rather than a gradual construction.

Imperfect coincidence:

Intentionally choosing story elements that almost cohere but have a slight difference from one another can be used to create mystery.

It can also often involve two or more objects or concepts that seem identical at first glance but have a subtle difference.

Often the reader might notice the imperfection but write it off as a plot hole, negligible detail, or red herring.

I think it's positive if the reader is thinking deeply about a mystery story in this way.

Of course, it could be used as a subtle red herring as well.

There are many examples of this in the When They Cry visual novels.