Beginning, Middle, & End

There are three key elements to writing a story; you’ve got to have a beginning, middle, and an end.

Beginning: The character wants something, and gets them into trouble.

Middle: Things get worse.

End: Things get even worse, every attempt to succeed is thwarted, and then finally the character succeeds.

That's the basic plot of every book (every book I know of anyway.) It’s also, strangely enough, the recipe for a trilogy.

If you want to get a little more detailed plot outline, you could follow a plot graph.

Exposition (Beginning): The character wants something, and gets them into trouble.

Rising action: The character takes action to solve their problem and things get worse.

Climax: The most emotional part, where tension is the highest and everything is at stake.

Falling action: The problem is almost solved, but a few loose knots need to be taken care of.

Denouement (Resolution) (End): Everything is solved and the hero rides off into the sunset.