Curate, connect, and discover
goal + obstacle = conflict -> plot
You may have heard that a story needs conflict, but what does that mean?
No, it's not explosions. Or murder. Or smut.
Your character wants something, that's the goal. Something is in the character's way, that's the obstacle. The way your character deals with the obstacle to reach their goal is what makes an engaging conflict.
You see this on a plot level as well as on an individual scene level: Character wants X, but obstacle Y, so they have to go do Z
Conflict is like the engine of the plot, so if it's missing in a scene, then it's likely to feel redundant, boring, as if the story came to a halt (because it did; the engine stopped).
The goal and obstacle pair generally appear in two orders, with a "reaction" element:
Character sets a goal, but an obstacle happens, so the character reacts by changing course
Something happens (obstacle), character reacts to it and decides on the next action (goal)
You can alternate between the two, then you get something like this: character tries to accomplish something, something gets in their way, forcing a new approach, character reacts to the changes and decides how to move on from here, sets a new goal, tries to reach goal, faces obstacle...
This can also keep your character active rather than passive. Even in a reactionary scene, your character is responding and making a decision, rather than being a puppet to external forces. It can be smart to not have too many reactionary scenes back-to-back, as this can also feel passive. The goal-obstacle-reaction type scenes don't really have this problem and you can intersperse them with reactionary scenes now and then for variation.
You can have one major goal and many smaller goals. The goal(s) can also shift over the course of the story.
If you struggle to think of an obstacle, ask yourself: what is preventing my character from achieving their goal right now? Why can't they walk up to the villain and defeat them? Why can't they pull their love interest into a kiss? Why is your story longer than two paragraphs?
Ideally, goals and obstacles (and conflicts) are interwoven with character development, theme, etc., making for a solid plot where all these elements form one smooth fabric together. As a beginner, it's alright to first pick one thing to exercise rather than trying to balance all these things at once. Learn to create these bare bones of a plot and then improve upon that foundation.
Anakin would like Padmé to not die. = goal; He doesn't know how to prevent it. = obstacle
Stop the Sith = goal; Not knowing who the Sith Lord is = obstacle
These form conflicts and they push the plot forward. There are several smaller goals, like defeating Dooku/saving the Chancellor, preventing Palpatine from dying, manslaughter, killing Obi-Wan...
A scene with the goal - obstacle - (reaction) order: Anakin wants to use Palpatine's knowledge (goal), but Mace Windu is about to make that permanently impossible (obstacle). Thus, Anakin needs to pivot from yelling to slashing in order to reach his goal.
A scene with the obstacle - (reaction) - goal order: Anakin, the superstar Jedi, has just helped a Sith Lord kill a Jedi master (obstacle/problem; goes against the bigger "stop the Sith" goal). This has an effect on him (reaction; "What have I done??") and leads to a decision: join Palpatine. This then sets him on his next goal(s): destroy the Jedi to prove he's worthy.
Here you see how those two "types" of scenes flow into each other.
Write two short scenes - one for each type (reactionary and goal-obstacle-reaction). They don't have to be unrelated.
Now, write another two scenes, but this time make them successive.
See if you can do this in the form of a short story: write 5-10 successive scenes.
Celebrate that you've just written a story! :D
These techniques, like so often with writing, need practice to sink in. So write some fun short stories or wacky scenes, and you'll notice you get better the more you do it. Have fun!
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