72 point buy (unless you're using an alternate point buy system) will help you A LOT - cause the monk suffers from MAD (multiple attribute dependancy) more-so than any other class.
If you're looking for general build suggestions, then Treatmonk's Guide (Link) is a good place to start. The short version is that Str, Wis, and Con are your strongest stats, and you're looking to flurry as often as possible - with Power Attack if you can help it.
The only thing about that guide, though is that it was created before teh APG or Ultimate Magic came out, so there are a lot of options not listed there.
What kind of monk you wanting to play and what level are you starting? An in-your-face melee brute who makes everyone cringe? A quick, hard-to-hit guy who doesn't really rely on damage output? There are even a few interesting archetypes you could look into... the Hungry Ghost and the Zen Monk come to mind, though both have a very specific theme.
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If you get traits, grab heirloom weapon: brass knuckles. You can use your unarmed damage with brass knuckles, flurry with them, and enchant them to increase your hit chance.
The monk suffers most from low attack bonus. Anything you can use to improve your attack bonus, from maxing out stats, to weapon focus, to the heirloom weapon, is a good thing. Given the opportunity, go for a +1 enhancement bonus over 1d6 elemental damage.
The qinggong monk archetype from ultimate magic gives you the option to switch out classic monk abilities with feats, spell-like abilities (like bark skin or scorching ray) and special abilities.
The ki mystic archetype from the advanced players guide gets you either +2 more ki points or a crap ton more ki points, depending on how you read it. It grants you some knowledge bonuses, and an immediate reroll ability for 2 ki points, which is nice. Some other neat things at higher levels.
Monk vows can net you some extra ki points as well, but they trade out your still mind feature which will limit the archetypes you can take.
Human monks can't go wrong. Half-elf isn't terrible, but not as good either. Elves are terrible because of the con penalty.
So... any particular character idea you had? Might be able to give more targeted suggestions with that.
The monk suffers most from low attack bonus
The only exception to this is when he's flurrying or using combat maneuvers (at least once you get Maneuver Training @ level 3). In both of these situations, you're treated as having a BAB equal to your monk level.
That fact plus the fact that any monk weapon (including unarmed) is treated as a primary hand attack for purposes of Power Attack while flurrying.
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Not what I meant.
What I meant by that is that in comparison with the fighter, the monk ends up significantly behind in attack bonus. Since he is flurrying, he is at a -2. He misses out on the +4 to hit from weapon training. He similarly doesn't get greater weapon focus, or either of the specializations.
So, in comparison to the fighter who is baseline melee, the base monk ends with a difference of 7 points of attack bonus in favor of the fighter.
Other melee combatants have other abilities to boost to-hit, like ranger's favored enemy, or the paladins smite evil.
So where the monk suffers most is from his low attack bonus (even with using his level as his bab while flurrying).